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Epilogue

It was Monday morning. The new Gryffindor and Slytherin first years were lined up outside their Potions classroom, looking around nervously. A small girl with light brown hair in bunches was chattering to them all.

"He's a new teacher," she said smartly. "Apparently the last one was really horrid. But I'm sure he'll be nice. He is Harry Potter, after all. He's in our History of Magic book, you know."

Harry, who was currently hiding just inside the door, started and wondered why nobody had mentioned this to him yet. He sighed. He would have to let the students in some time. They couldn't exactly just stand outside and wait for an hour. He opened the door, and stood back to let them in. They all filed in silently, most of them giving him rather wide-eyed looks, before squabbling over seats for a moment or two and settling. He made his way to the front of the class, and then looked up at them. They were all watching him expectantly. He opened his mouth, trying to think of something he could say, anything. A glance down told him that he had misplaced his lesson plan. He was just starting to feel like this job had been a very bad idea, a thought came to him.

He looked up, and stepped around his desk to face the class. They all watched him closely. He smiled just a little bit, and out of his mouth came words that had been imprinted on his brain so clearly, he could remember their first recital as though it was yesterday.

"You're all here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he said. Every student was hanging onto his every word. "As there is no wand work here, some of you won't believe this is actually magic. It could take you a while to understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle flame, brew glory, even stopper death. If..." He paused. "If you are willing to learn."

Silence followed this. Two boys in the front row raised their eyebrows to each other, and the girl with bunches had sat forward in her chair, as though ready to start proving she was willing to learn. He set them all into pairs and gave them instructions to create a simple potion to cure boils. He was just finished writing up the last ingredient when he sensed somebody behind him. A hand went out, took the chalk, and changed the amount of porcupine quills. Harry smiled.

"Thanks, Severus," he said.

"My pleasure," said Snape, quietly. "I came to return your lesson plan. You left it in my quarters last night. And I must say, I'm very disappointed."

Harry turned to look at Snape, taking the lesson plan off him. "Why?" he said, worriedly.

The corner of Snape's mouth twitched. "You forget the part about calling them all dunderheads."

"Oh, sorry," said Harry, with an apologetic grin. "I'm so forgetful."

Snape smirked at him, and turned to leave. His seventh year Defence Against the Dark Arts class were waiting, and he knew the brats would be tearing the classroom apart before long. He had just reached the door, when a voice spoke from the back of the class. "Master Potter!" Snape turned to watch as Harry hurried over, and started showing a young girl how to cut her daffodil roots properly. She was watching her Potions professor avidly. When he was done she beamed at him, said thankyou, and started to work on it herself. Master Potter gave her an encouraging smile and then went off to sort out another problem at the front of the class. Snape smiled as he watched. Eight years ago, if you had suggested "Potions Professor" as a career to Harry James Potter, it would have been thrown back in your face. And now here he was, fully grown, and teaching as though he'd been doing it for years. His guardian couldn't help but feel just a little bit proud. For a moment, Severus Snape caught a flash of the future in his mind's eye. He could see children, being named as a godfather, a whole family of Potters and Weasleys and Malfoys sitting together at a Christmas, laughing and joking. He could see himself there too. Harry was turning to him, offering him more meat or wine. Pulling a cracker with him. Merry Christmas, Severus.

Snape was brought out of his thoughts, as something told him Harry was up to something dangerous. He looked over, and saw Harry leaning over somebody's desk, correcting their work. His robes were trailing close to the fire of somebody's cauldron.

"Harry!" called Snape.

Harry looked up, and then down, pulling his robes away. He smiled to Snape. "Thankyou, Severus," he said. Those words seemed to echo with a million meanings.

Severus Snape smiled, backed out of the room, closed the door, and wiped his eyes. "My pleasure," he murmured, to nobody in particular, before he turned on his heel and went away up the corridor.


And so Voldemort was gone, and the wizarding world was safe at last from the grasp of evil. Though that's hardly the end of the story.

Ron spent a few years on the reserve squad of the Chudley Cannons, until his talent was spotted by the captain of the team, and he was put on the main team. Being in the squad gave him such a good income that he was able to buy a cottage in the Scottish countryside for his and Hermione's family to grow. Hermione was already heavily pregnant by this time with their first child, and took time off from her job in the Magical Creatures Department at the ministry, where her constant efforts had already secured better working rights for house elves. A few months later, their eldest daughter Jessica was born. In true Weasley tradition, they had a large family. Jessica was followed by a brother, Jack, twin girls Kelly and Amy, then Max another son, and finally another set of twins, Robert and Katie. Proud uncles Fred and George took a special interest in the mischievous Max, and Hermione was delighted when Kelly and Amy started asking for nothing but books for birthdays.

Ginny Weasley was signed up to the Wimbourne Wasps, and eagerly went up against her brother in several Quidditch matches. All her extra time was devoted to her nieces and nephews, and Weasley family parties became the stuff of legends.

Draco spent a few years in a job at Gringotts, weighing and measuring at their bank in Diagon Alley, but he soon outgrew his lowly position and left to go treasure seeking on his own. He took particular interest in ancient Chinese and Egyptian artefacts, and eventually opened his own museum to display his collection. His first marriage to the lead singer of one of the wizarding rock bands fell flat on its face, and after two years of calling her rotten in the Daily Prophet, he decided to move on. He married Ginny Weasley, and they had two sons, Andreas and Javier Malfoy. Draco sold off his collection and bought a country manor close to Ron and Hermione's cottage.

Neville started doing home learning NEWT courses after leaving Hogwarts, and once he had enough qualifications, joined St Mungo's as a Healer, working with people whose minds had been ruined by magic. He made an accidental break-through after giving somebody Colataro leaves in their salad instead of lettuce, and a year later, managed to restore his parents' minds. They made up for all the lost years, and Frank and Alice Longbottom were allowed to leave St Mungo's on the day that Neville married Luna Lovegood. Soon, they were blessed with a grand-daughter, Emelia, who had an entire issue of The Quibbler dedicated to her birth.

Fred and George Weasley had soon cornered the market in wizarding practical jokes, and the gold began to roll in. They were able to buy Mr and Mrs Weasley a cottage close to their grandchildren, and went down in history as the most famous mischief-makers of all time. Their funhouse was moved to an unplottable location, and soon expanded into a theme-park, which attracted wizards and witches from all over the world. Hogwarts started doing annual visits to the park, which is still open and popular today.

Bill was given the Order of Merlin third class for his constant work with Gringotts, and for a time joined Draco in his treasure-hunting business, before settling down with Fleur Delacour. A few years later, and Arthur and Molly were celebrating their third grandchild with veela blood. Nicole Weasley, as an only child, was doted on by her parents and won several beauty competitions before she had even joined Hogwarts.

Charlie Weasley left his job in Romania to join Hogwarts permanently and help Hagrid with the magical creatures. A whole new Care of Magical Creatures Hall was built, including all sorts of amazing animals from the world over, and Hagrid and Charlie are still at Hogwarts, getting burnt, bitten, kicked, scratched and chased on a regular basis.

Tim, or Sneezy as everybody continued to call him, spent most of his time in the disguise of Ron's faithful terrier, chasing chickens around the yard of Ron and Hermione's cottage. The children found him hilarious, and there was never a dull moment when he was around.

A few years after leaving Hogwarts, Remus Lupin represented all of werewolf kind in front of the Ministry of Magic. He managed to secure better working conditions and rights for werewolves, and a department was set up to deal specifically with curing lycanthropy. They managed it. Lupin never had to worry about his monthly terrors again, and went on a long holiday around the world with Penny Pebblebank, studying various dark creatures. He wrote all his findings down in a book which sold incredibly well, enough to buy him a nice house by the sea and many train tickets to visit the Weasley family and all their children. Penny moved closer to him, and they enjoyed long walks down the coast for ever more.

Professor Alrister became famous for single-handedly doing all the special effects at the Quidditch World Cup one year, and started doing a special series of classes for squibs, teaching them how to use a mild form of Pure Arts. He carried on teaching at Hogwarts, and when Professor Flitwick retired to a bungalow in Yorkshire, he became Head of Ravenclaw house. He started dating Andralyn Galvez, to Snape's annoyance, and they married on Christmas Day in the grounds of Hogwarts. There were just as many girls were crying as there were cheering. He also wrote a book about Beginner's Pure Arts, which mysteriously appeared on the shelf of every single witch in England. Though he's now most famous for the topless Christmas calendar made of him, which mysteriously appeared on the Christmas wish list of every single witch in England.

Augustus Rookwood was the only known Death Eater not captured by the ministry, and is still at large today. His wife remained in Azkaban, and their baby daughter Morgan was given to Alrister and Andralyn to care for. Renamed as Morgan Alrister-Galvez, she was able to live a wonderful life far from the stain her parents left upon her.

Minerva McGonagall continued to teach at Hogwarts for many, many years, and when Albus Dumbledore finally retired, she took the place of Headmistress and is still keeping people in line now. Dumbledore continued to live at Hogwarts, and surprising several people, they got married and could be seen wandering about the grounds early in the mornings, holding hands. Dumbledore was offered a place at the ministry, though he turned it down, saying he had everything he wanted in life anyway. He earned a special place in the hearts of the Weasley family by delivering Hermione's fifth child personally, when she went into labour as he was visiting. They offered to name the child after him, though Dumbledore said things around the Weasley house were quite confusing enough already.

Arthur Weasley was personally acredited with the eradication of any anti-muggle pranksters, and before long, there wasn't a single biting kettle in England. The main office joke at the ministry currently is that nobody can remember what colour Arthur Weasley's office walls are, because nobody can see past all the baby photos tacked up. If anybody knows, please write in.

Nymphadora Tonks gradually worked her way up through the auror ranks, and became Head of Department. She was always free to play babysitter for the hoards of Weasley children, or join the party at Fred and George's penthouse in London, and was recently awarded the Order of Merlin for organising the capture of the last Death Eaters in the entire world. Though her most notable achievement was finally learning how to sneak without knocking anything over, after years of practice getting out of the room after putting every Weasley child to bed.

Mad-Eye Moody continued to be paranoid about pretty much everything, and at Ron and Hermione's wedding, nearly caused a fight by frisking every guest of their personal possessions on the way in. After a few glasses of firewhiskey his constant vigilance was somewhat subdued, enough for Fred and George to slip some of their new products into his drink. They managed to remove all his feathers eventually, and though he never quite forgave Fred and George, even he had to admit it was "rather amusing".

After the threat of Voldemort was completely destroyed, the Dursleys were transported back to Privet Drive. Every muggle in Privet Drive had their minds wiped by a squad of obliviators so nobody even remembered the Dursleys leaving, and after pulling a lot of strings, the ministry even managed to get Uncle Vernon and Dudley back into Grunnings. Dudley eventually married a waitress he had met on holiday, and they split up after two weeks. Dudley moved back in with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, and is probably still sitting on the sofa and eating donuts now.

Sirius continued to live in and around Hogwarts, until Lupin left, and he took up the position of running the Dark Arts Hall. The students always loved his lessons and they became the stuff of Hogwarts legends. Harry spent a lot of time down in the hall with Sirius, duelling and play-fighting. Sirius was named as honoury uncle to the hoards of Weasley, Malfoy and Potter children, and the most commonly heard phrase for many long years was, "Uncle Sirius did it".

Peter and Jinx remained at Hogwarts, terrorising the students in their poltergeist forms and keeping the castle in a suitable state of half-chaos. Every weekend, Dumbledore put Peter in a jar and brought him to come and visit Harry and all the Weasleys. Jinx still kept telling him off for smoking, and he kept arguing with his little sister, and they both lived more or less happily ever after.

Snape enjoying several decades of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, eventually becoming Assistant Headmaster as well as Head of Slytherin House. He retired after an exhausting career, and moved into a house in the country close to the Weasley clan. He and Harry continued to stay close friends, and though Snape was no longer defending Harry from Lord Voldemort, he was always there if Harry needed anything.

And as for The Boy Who Lived Again? Harry became known as the best Potions master ever to grace the dungeons of Hogwarts. Nearly every single one of his first class of first years went on to do NEWT Potions, and they all passed with flying colours. Harry became a professor, after an anonymous recommendation to the ministry by somebody referring to themself only as 'SS'. Once Kainda had been resting her stomach muscles for a few years, and Madam Hooch went off to be a Quidditch coach for one of the international teams, Kainda joined the school and showed the new students how to fly. Around the time that Ron and Draco had started their own families, Harry and Kainda decided it was time to fill their own nest. Their eldest son was christened Alex. He was followed by a daughter, Kiara, and their second son David. The Potter, Weasley and Malfoy children were all at Hogwarts together, making their parents extremely proud, and to this day, the three families are still together, still the best friends they could ever be.

Of course, Harry still had adventures, still met danger, still enjoyed the risks of life. There was still evil in the world, and the ministry always knew who they could call upon to help with the latest threat to wizard kind. Harry found himself duelling dragons, fighting dark wizards, solving ancient riddles, and far more wonderful adventures. He knew that when the time came, he would have some amazing stories to tell his grandchildren.

Oddly enough, you've just read one of them. So what else happened to Harry in his life? Just what extraordinary adventures did he have from that moment on?

You'll have to wait and see.

*~*~*~*~* THE END *~*~*~*~*

 

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