Hermione stood outside the Burrow, staring at the door to Ron's home. She had been going crazy just sitting at home, not knowing what was going on, and had finally convinced her parents to let her visit Ron.
She knocked on the door, eager to catch up with her friend and find out how he and his family had been holding up.
A few moments later, the door swung open, and she stared at a woman that could only be Ron's mother. "Hello Mrs. Weasley," she said politely. "My name is Hermione Grang-" she began to say before Mrs. Weasley swept up into a bone-crushing hug.
"Hermione!" Molly exclaimed, hugging the girl tight. "Ron's told me all about you. Let me get a look at you," she said, putting her down and taking a step back. "Have you been eating?" She asked seriously. "I've had to practically force the boys to eat these days. Ron!" she called into the house. "Come to the door!"
Hermione blinked, caught by surprise by Mrs. Weasley's reaction. "I'm alright," she replied. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," she said.
"Oh no," Molly said, shaking her head as she took Hermione's hand, leading her into the house. "Call me Molly. Have you eaten yet?" She repeated. "We were just about to sit down for breakfast."
"Oh.. That's alright… I ate before I came," Hermione replied. "I'm sorry I dropped in on you like this. I don't have an owl and—"
"It's ok," Molly said softly, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "I can't imagine it's been easy for you, either. You were right there in the thick of it with Ron and the twins. You're always welcome here. No need to owl ahead."
Ron stood at the top of the stairs, rubbing his face tiredly after another sleepless night, only for his eyes to widen as he rushed down the stairs, hugging Hermione tight.
"Hermione!" He exclaimed, "What are yo doing here? How did you get here? Are you alright?"
Hermione smiled, hugging her friend back. "I took the Knight bus," she explained. "It took me to Ottery St Catchpole, and I walked the rest of the way."
"I'm glad you're here," Ron said sincerely, breaking the hug.
"What's been going on?" Hermione asked. "How are you and your brothers holding up?"
Ron's eyes darkened, handing Hermione a stack of newspapers. "That's what the Prophet's been printing for the last few days."
Hermione took the newspapers, skimming through the articles, her eyes widening with outrage the more she read.
"I know," Ron replied simply. "I felt the same way when I was reading them."
"How do they think they can get away with this?!" Hermione demanded angrily. "This isn't what happed at all!" It was infuriating. "They had an entire castle full of students they could interview. Why couldn't they get it right?"
"The Prophet's in bed with the Wizengamot, printing their lies," Ron explained, just as angry. "They wrote it as if the Aurors came in and saved the day, then Dumbledore came in and saved them all in the forbidden forest. They barely even talk about what Harry did, let alone the rest of us."
"Well, it won't last for long," Hermione said, shaking her head in disgust. "As soon as Skeeter and the Quibbler are back, the truth will come out."
"I hope so," Ron agreed, but couldn't shake the feeling there was a lot more going on than the Prophet doing the bidding of the Wizengamot.
"What about you?" Hermione asked, her eyes softening.
"I'm alright," Ron replied. "Nightmares mostly… but it could have been a lot worse," he said, thinking about the students and teachers that died or got maimed in the attack. "What about you?"
"The same," Hermione admitted. It seemed every night she woke up screaming now. After the shock wore off, all she could think about was how close she came to dying. "What about Draco? Have you heard from him?"
"I got a letter," Ron replied. "Just the one, and he had to sneak it out, said his parents are checking his mail, and won't let him send us any letters."
"Why?" Hermione asked, confused. "What do they have against us?"
"My father and Malfoy, Draco's dad," Ron clarified. "They go way back, and don't like each other very much. He doesn't like the idea of us being friends."
"…Oh," Hermione replied, feeling worried for Draco, knowing that it couldn't be easy with no one to talk to.
"Sit down, have something to eat," Molly urged, interrupting them. "Fred, George, Ginny" time for breakfast.
A moment later Hermione heard footsteps from upstairs, as Fred appeared, and George walked in from the living room. She looked back and forth between them with a frown, wondering what was going on as the twins glared at each other.
"What's going on?" Hermione whispered to Ron.
"Don't know," Ron said with a shrug of his shoulders. "George hasn't said much since he came back from St. Mungos, other than getting into fights with Fred."
"What? Fights?" Hermione asked, furrowing her brows in confusion. Fred and George were as close as two brothers could get. She hadn't seen so much as an argument between them the entire time she'd known them.
"Hello Hermione," Fred said, joining them at the table, as George sat across from him, only grunting as he stared out the window.
"Hi Fred," Hermione nodded, but before she could ask him how he was doing a girl walked down the stairs. "Oh, Hello," Hermione greeted, "you must be Ginny. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Hello," Ginny replied politely, sitting down at the table, glancing between Fred and George wearily. She felt like she was walking on eggshells around her brothers, not sure what would set off another argument between them.
She couldn't figure out what it was, but there was suddenly a distance between the twins that had never been there before, and whenever she asked George what was going on, he refused to answer.
As they ate, the post owl came in, delivering the Prophet. Molly quickly snatched it up, walking to the hallway.
"Mom," Ron called out as she was leaving. "You can't hide it from us. We're going to find out one way or another, and honestly, it would be better if you were there when we find out."
He had noticed his mother had been doing that since the first Prophet came out about what happened at Hogwarts. He knew she meant well, but it wasn't working. George always seemed to figure out where she kept it, and it wasn't long after that the rest of them got a hold of it as well.
Molly let out a deep sigh, knowing that Ron was right. She had considered canceling her subscription more than once, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She had to find out what happened to her children, and with all of them as tight-lipped about it as they were, the Prophet was her only lifeline.
"Alright," she sighed, placing the newspaper on the table.
George quickly snatched up the paper, reading through the article as everyone else crowded around him, reading over his shoulder.
It was the final part of the battle, the part he and Fred hadn't seen, when Harry had confronted Andre, and stopped the ritual, but the words on the page didn't match with what Ron had told them at all.
He looked at his youngest brother in confusion. The article talked about Dumbledore, with no mention of Harry at all, let alone Hermione and Ron, who had been there as well.
The Battle of Hogwarts Part Three
By Zamira Gulch
This is the final part of what has been dubbed the battle of Hogwarts. I have painstakingly interviewed the Aurors on the scene, describing the events, although Albus Dumbledore himself has still not responded to any requests for an interview. However, the corroborations of the Aurors on the scene all paint a clear picture of the events that transpired.
Albus Dumbledore, accompanied by an elite team of Aurors, made their way through the forbidden forest, closing in on the massive pillar of green light that could be seen from as far away as a hundred miles.
This was the sight of the ritual, where the cultists described in the earlier parts of this series attempted to open a dimensional portal so that a being from the other side could cross over into our world.
Professor Dumbledore, along with the Aurors, engaged them in battle, and make no mistake, these cultists were the most powerful by far. The battle went back and forth, with Professor Dumbledore and the Aurors slowly gaining ground, but just when victory was within their grasp, a magical barrier formed around the ritual site, protecting the cultists.
At this point, the portal had already formed, and it is believed the entity on the other side was protecting them to ensure its return. The barrier was near impregnable, with conventional spells having absolutely no effect.
This was the moment Professor Dumbledore unleashed an as of yet unknown spell. From the accounts of Aurors present, it was described as a massive beam of white light that tore a hole in the barrier, and eventually collapsed it.
The Aurors moved forward, engaging the cultists in battle as the portal continued to grow. After recovering from his attack, Professor Dumbledore joined the fight, and they soon overwhelmed the cultists, killing them all in the ensuing battle.
Professor Dumbledore, nearly exhausted magically by this point destroyed the ritual circle, and pillars, causing the collapse of the portal, but not before seeing the face of the entity, described as a cross between a beautiful dark-haired woman, and demonic creature with black leathery wings, glowing red eyes, and clawed hands.
After the battle concluded, more Aurors appeared, along with healers to see to the injured. Albus Dumbledore then destroyed the ritual artifacts to ensure no one could ever attempt such a dangerous and vile ritual again.
I am also happy to announce that much of the damage to Hogwarts has now been repaired, and the Ministry, along with Hogwarts Board of Governors, and Headmaster Dumbledore have jointly decided that Hogwarts will re-open in two weeks time.
This will be a much needed step in returning to normalcy after so much death and destruction.
See page three for a list of students and professors that have tragically lost their lives in this heinous attack.
George flipped through the pages, his hands shaking visibly as he read the list of students that died… his eyes welling up as he settled on a single name, Angelina Johnson. He had hoped that she was ok, just injured, and still recovering at home, but couldn't ignore the truth now that it was staring him in the face.
He abruptly stood from the table, marching up the stairs, ignoring his mother's calls.
"These are lies," Hermione said, shaking her head in disbelief. "What's going on? Why is Dumbledore going along with this?"
Ron stared at the newspaper, his hands balling into fists, his anger simmering just below the surface. "It doesn't even mention the study group," he spat. "After everything they've done… how?"
"It's worse than that," Fred replied, picking up the page of the newspaper that George had dropped before storming upstairs.
Hermione's eyes widened as she read the names of the study group, all of them listed as students that died in the battle, but the way it was written, it made it look like they fought against the Alumni, and as she thought about it she realized none of the Alumni had been named either, just referred to as cultists, or other vague titles.
The government wasn't just hiding their own incompetence, and lack of preparation, they were actively re-writing what happened.
"Go back to Hogwarts?" Molly breathed, shaking her head in disbelief. "If those fools think I'm sending any of you back, they have another thing coming!"
"How is this possible?" Hermione demanded, agreeing with Molly. "How can the Minister allow this?!"
"He's not," Fred replied darkly. "They've thrown him out of office, blaming him for the whole thing. Said he didn't 'sufficiently warn the Wizengamot.'" He said, quoting the article from a few days prior. "It's all tripe! He was there, fighting alongside us, and they all know it!"
"Can the Wizengamot just do that?" Hermione asked, aghast. "He was elected to office. They can't just throw him out like that, right?"
"They can," Ron admitted. "They said as much in the article, quoting some old law from more than a hundred years ago. Something about disparaging the office of the Minister, and acting against the public good.
The Wizengamot called for a motion of no-confidence. They needed 80% of the Wizengamot to agree, and they got it. Rufus Scrimgeour, will take office in a few days."
"And everyone just accepted this?" Hermione asked, disbelievingly.
"No one knows what to believe," Molly admitted tiredly. "Professor Dumbledore, he saved a lot of people during the last two wars, so most people believe he stopped the ritual," she said, privately admitting to herself that if not for what happened to her own children, she would have believed what the Prophet said about Professor Dumbledore wholeheartedly.
"Minister Fudge has also done right by all of us" she continued. "But after the articles came out, he didn't say a single word about it, didn't even hold a press conference to share his side of the story," she continued. "He's always been so outspoken. People are asking themselves why he's so quiet now."
"This doesn't make any sense at all," Hermione said, sharing an uneasy look with Ron. They both watched as The Minister left St. Mungos, so they knew he wasn't still in a hospital bed. The only conclusion they could draw was that something happened to him.
"Do you think we can owl him?" Ron asked thoughtfully. "I mean, Harry knows him. He might have mentioned us to him."
Hermione was about to reply when they heard a loud crash coming from upstairs, followed by a series of loud thuds. Her eyes widened as she pulled her wand, along with Ron and Fred, as they stood up, looking at the stairs.
"George!? Percy!" Molly called out in a panic as she ran to the stairs.
"No! Stop, mom!" Fred grabbed his mother's arm, pulling her back.
"Wha-" Molly said, "let go of me!" She demanding, attempting to wrench her arm out of her son's hand to get upstairs.
"NO!" Ron shouted, cutting off his mother's angry shouts. "We don't know what's going on. Hermione, Fred, and I will take a look. Mom, you need to stay here with Ginny. If there's someone in the house, you both need to get out of here."
Molly's jaw fell open as she saw the look in her children's eyes, finally realizing they weren't children, not anymore, not after what they'd been through. The battle they fought, the lives they had been forced to take, it had robbed them of their innocence, and there was simply no coming back from that.
It would only be much later, when she relayed the story to her husband, that she would realize the true scope of the change in them. The way Fred, Hermione, and Ron got to their feet in an instant, drawing their wands faster than even trained Aurors could manage, and how quickly they assessed the situation, and formed a plan of attack.
Molly nodded numbly as she watched them march up the stairs as she pulled Ginny close, terrified of sending her daughter to Hogwarts as well.
Ron silently walked up the stairs, skipping the loose step so as not to make a noise as Fred and Hermione trailed behind him, matching his steps. He could hear a loud thudding, and could tell it was coming from Fred and George's room.
He nodded to Hermione and Fred, who took positions on either side of him before he kicked in the door, and they marched inside, but what they saw stopped them dead in their tracks.
It was George, with glass strewn all around him, and his fist covered in blood with a look of anguish on his face as he slammed his fist into the remains of a mirror over and over again
"Stupefy," Ron whispered as Fred stepped forward, catching his brother before he hit the ground and dragged him to the bed.
"…Mom," Ron called down the stairs as Hermione checked on George's injuries. "It's alright, you can come upstairs," said before looking back at George. "But don't let Ginny up just yet."
Hermione looked at George's hand. "He's lucky he doesn't have any glass shards in his hand," she observed quietly. "Episkey, Episkey, Episkey," she said, casting the minor healing spell to seal George's cuts, then cast a Ferula for good measure to wrap his hand in bandages.
"What happened?" Molly demanded, rushing over to check on her son. "Who did this to him?" She demanded.
"He did it to himself," Ron replied somberly. "He cut up his hand punching the mirror. I had to stupefy him to stop him from hurting himself any more than he already did."
Molly's eyes welled up with tears as she looked down at her son on the bed, even asleep he looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but she couldn't for the life of her think what could have brought on such a violent reaction from him.
"Has he done this before?" Hermione asked, casting a reparo to fix the broken mirror.
"No," Ron shook his head. "He's been angry, yelled a lot, but he didn't do anything like this before. I don't know… Fred?" He asked, seeing the look in his brother's eyes.
"Hold on," Fred replied, remembering how George had stormed off after reading the Prophet, getting a sinking feeling.
He returned a few minutes later with the prophet, reading through the list of student that died, his eyes settling on one name in particular. "Angelina…" He said softly, his voice trailing off.
"What? What is it?" Molly demanded, snatching up the newspaper from Fred as she tried to make sense of it.
"…They were dating," Fred explained. "I didn't think it was anything serious. It had only been a few weeks," he said, looking at the sleeping form of George, feeling even worse about fighting with his brother now, even though he hadn't been the one to start them.
"Oh George," Molly whispered, rubbing her face, feeling emotionally exhausted. The hits never seemed to stop, and just when she thought she had a handle on it, she found out something new.
"We should let him wake up on his own," Hermione suggested softly, looking at the troubled expression on George's face, even in sleep. "He looks like he could use the rest."
"I'll stay with him," Fred volunteered, pulling up a chair next to his brother's bed.
Hermione nodded, as she, Ron, and Molly went to the door, heading for the stairs. "Where's Percy?" she asked, a curious look on her face.
"His room, why?" Ron asked curiously, pointing at the door next to Fred and George's room. "Probably still sleeping."
"He could sleep through all of that?" Hermione asked, getting a sinking feeling that something wasn't right.
"…Yeah," Ron said, really thinking about it for the first time as well. "He's been sleeping a lot since he got back, actually."
"Molly?" Hermione asked, "do you mind if we check on him?" she asked, not waiting for a response as she pushed open the door to Percy's room.
"What? What is it?" Molly asked, frowning as she followed Hermione and Ron into Percy's room.
"Hopefully nothing," Hermione said, going to the bed and shaking Percy. "Wake up Percy!" She shouted.
"What is it? What's going on, Hermione?" Molly asked, getting worried all over again. Percy was the one that was supposed to be ok. He'd said so himself.
"He's not waking up," Hermione said, looking around the room. "Ron… look for sleeping potions," she asked, recognizing the deep sleep Percy was in was anything but natural.
"Shit," Ron cursed, kicking himself for not seeing the signs earlier. He had been so wrapped up with what was going on with the twins, he had completely missed what Percy had been going through.
He went to the closet, yanking open the door, digging through Percy's closet until he found his cauldron. It was half full, and one sniff told him all he needed to know. "I found it," he said. "Dreamless sleep potion."
Hermione looked over Ron's shoulder, seeing the potion for herself. "How long you think?" she asked.
"Percy's always been good at potions, probably since the night he came home," Ron replied after a moment's thought, pulling out the cauldron.
Molly hung her head, feeling ashamed of herself. "I should have noticed," she berated herself. "I knew it was too good to be true. I knew it, and I just ignored it."
"Mom," Ron said, consoling his mother. "This isn't your fault. None of us know how to handle this."
"You shouldn't have to handle this at all, none of you," Molly said, her voice breaking. "Your father and I… We should have protected you, and we didn't. I just… I just… I don't know how to fix you, any of you," she admitted.
Hermione felt her heart break for Molly, realizing that her own parents probably felt the same way Molly did, helpless, their emotional scars running just as deep as theirs.
***
Cornelius sat down at his dining table, sipping a cup of tea, copies of the daily prophet strewn across the table, along with an unopened stack of mail that seemed to grow larger with each passing day.
He had read a few of them already, all of them demanding to know what really happened at Hogwarts, if what was said in the Prophet was true, but he couldn't answer any of them.
His mail wards had already been put through the ringer, keeping out the howlers as the demands for the truth grew louder, along with the demands for someone to blame.
"Penny for your thoughts," a familiar voice said from behind him, startling him, and nearly causing him to spill his tea.
"Rita…" he sighed, putting down his cup. "How many times have I told you not to do that? Just knock on the bloody door," he said, but there was no heat in his words, just a grudging acceptance that it was unlikely to ever change.
"Where's the fun in that?" Rita smirked mirthfully, sitting down beside him.
"It's good to see you, Rita," Cornelius chuckled, despite himself. "When did you get back in town?"
"Just today," Rita replied. "You're my first stop. What happened?" She asked, tapping the copies of the Prophet.
"Where to start?" Cornelius asked, pouring Rita a cup of tea before taking a sip of his own. "None of it's true, obviously."
"Obviously," Rita agreed. "But what I don't understand is why you kept quiet about it. Why are you going along with this tripe?"
"I don't have a choice," Cornelius replied bitterly. "The Wizengamot issued a gag order. If I hold a press conference or utter one word of what really happened to the public, they'll have me in Azkaban before the day is out."
"Can they do that?" Rita asked in shock. She had always known the Wizengamot to be at least somewhat corrupt, but to her knowledge they'd never been this brazen before.
"They declared what happened at Hogwarts a national secret," Cornelius explained with a sigh. "It gives the Wizengamot a wide range of authority they wouldn't normally have."
"Bones threw you under the bus to save her own job," Rita added, her eyes narrowing. "She said you were the one that invited the Goblins."
"Rita… I need you to leave that alone, please," Cornelius stressed.
"What?" Rita asked, confused. "Why would you defend her after what she did?"
"I'm not going to ask you how you know about that, but there's more going on that you realize," Cornelius started, before stopping, deep in thought. He could already tell Rita wouldn't let this go, not until she found out the truth, and he had already learned his lesson about keeping the reporter out of the loop.
"Can I trust you Rita?" He finally asked. "Really trust you?"
"What's going on Cornelius?" Rita asked, refusing to commit to anything just yet.
"Can I trust you?" Cornelius repeated, refusing to answer.
Rita huffed, looking away, feeling like she was getting boxed in. This wasn't the way she operated. She didn't make promises, at least without knowing what was going on first.
"This is important, Rita," Cornelius continued. "What I know will put people at risk, good people. So I need to know. Can I trust you?"
"…Yes," Rita replied finally. What she had learned from working with Fudge the last few months above all was the fact that he was trustworthy.
"I told Amelia to do it," Cornelius admitted.
"You what?" Rita demanded, her eyes widening. "Why would you do that? They used it to kick you out of office and put Scriminger in charge!"
"It had to be done," Cornelius explained. "The Wizengamot has been looking for a way to get rid of me for years, and no matter what, the blame was always going to land on my shoulders for this. At least this way Amelia keeps her job, and they don't look into who really went to the Goblins for help."
"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" Rita asked curiously.
"This can never get out, but it was Harry Potter that went to them," Cornelius answered.
"Why him and not you, or anyone else in the government, for that matter?" Rita asked.
"That's the dirty secret of British wizarding politics," Cornelius explained with a mirthless laugh. "Even though we have treaties with the goblins, we have no open line of communication with them. We've slighted them too many times over the centuries to have any kind of healthy dialog with them," he went on. "Not allowing them to have wands, excluding them from the Wizengamot, denying them the right to buy property. Bottom line is, they won't speak to us unless we agree to renegotiate the treaties, which the Wizengamot has routinely denied."
"I saw Harry Potter too," Rita said, digesting the information Cornelius had just given her. "He doesn't look good… I know you two were friends. You should go see him."
Cornelius laughed darkly, a harsh look on his face. "I've tried, believe me, I've tried. They won't let me get near him."
"Well, we can change all that," Rita said confidently. "It'll take some time to get a special addition of the Quibbler out, but I'll make sure the truth gets out."
Cornelius nodded, but his keen political skills told him there was something more going on, something he was missing. He looked down at the newspapers strewn across his desk.
"What is it?" Rita asked, seeing the look on Cornelius's face
"Look at the articles," Cornelius explained. "They're filled with outright lies, all of them. Why would the Prophet print these, knowing that it's only a matter of time before their lies are all exposed? Why would Dumbledore put himself in a position to have this all blows up in his face? He's too smart for that."
"Now that you mention it…" Rita said, taking a closer look at the headlines. "They had to know I would be back eventually… what are they playing at?" She thought out loud.
"Be careful Rita," Cornelius warned. "The Wizengamot has never been pushed into a corner like this before, not even during the last war. There's no telling what will happen if you poke the hornet's nest this time."
"Then tell me what I need to know," Rita replied. "What's missing here?" She asked, spreading out the newspapers across the table. "You've dealt with the Wizengamot more than anyone. You know how they think. What are they lying about? What haven't they mentioned?"
"A lot," Cornelius said, taking another sip of his tea. "Some of it's twisted, but a lot of it is outright lies. The golem in the school, that was defeated by Harry, not the Aurors. On the school grounds, it was mostly Harry as well, although Dumbledore did show up at the end and wiped out the Alumni before they got us. I didn't see what happened at the ritual site, but Harry's friends did. Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley, they'll now the rest."
"Is there anything else I should know?" Rita pressed.
"One more thing," Cornelius nodded. "The Unspeakables were supposed to help as well, but they never showed up. I don't know what happened to them," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe the Alumni go to them first, but that's just a guess."
"I'll look into it," Rita promised, standing up to leave.
"Good luck," Cornelius said, "and watch yourself. There's a target on your back now too."
"It's nothing I haven't dealt with before," Rita said, turning into her beetle form, and flying out of Cornelius's window before he had a chance to respond.
***
Albus smiled, looking at the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. He had to sit patiently over the last few days as the articles discussed the initial stages of the battle that took place in the great hall, but slanted to minimize Harry's contributions, focusing more on the Professor's and later the Aurors.
Then the battle that took place on the school grounds, and the forbidden forest, depicting his grand entrance, saving the day, and dispatching the cultists.
It was all carefully written to exclude Harry, and focus on the parts of the battle from his arrival onwards.
He had already read the article that would print tomorrow, depicting the ritual, the portal, the cultist's goal, and their ultimate defeat, but it would be him that would be credited with defeating them, not Harry.
This last article would solidify his reputation with the public, and finally put to rest the accusations hurled against him about Evergreen, giving the public something much more favorable to focus on.
He mentally patted himself on the back for thinking of it, remembering how he had walked in to the offices of the Daily Prophet, and the discussion he had with the board.
At the time, they were still bleeding subscribers, their offices in complete disarray as they continued to deal with the fallout of Skeeter's article, along with Cuffe's departure.
They had been all too happy to go along with his ideas on how to shape the narrative, and address the public after he informed them of the latest legislation by the Wizengamot, and the new regulatory body to safeguard the integrity and promote transparency, accuracy, and accountability of the press, The National Media Oversight Board.
Its true purpose, however, was to force the Quibbler out of business, tying them up in endless red tape, forcing them to submit every one of their articles for review, and making it impossible for them to operate.
Without the Quibbler to take away their readership, the people would have no choice but to renew their subscriptions with the Prophet, who from now on would focus on painting himself and the Wizengamot in a much more favorable light.
He had already received letters of thanks from the public after the first two articles, but it would be nothing compared to the praise he would receive for the last article printed.
He was careful never to give a direct interview, knowing that he had to appear humble, but allowing the Prophet to speculate and 'collect' interviews from the Aurors would achieve the same results.
The only loose end left was Harry, and from what the healers told him, his condition was getting worse, estimating that he had perhaps another few days, a couple of weeks at most, before he went on to the next great adventure.
He raised a glass for the boy, a silent salute for what he had done for the wizarding world, his sacrifice allowing him to do what was necessary to safeguard the wizarding world, and mold it into what it needed to be to preserve their way of life.
***
Harry gasped as he sat up, wincing as he felt every one of his injuries. The last thing he remembered was closing the portal before everything went dark. 'Where am I?' he thought, looking around the dark void he found himself in. 'Merlin,' he thought. 'Where am I? What's going on…Merlin?'
The only response he got was silence. 'I'm alone,' he realized. For the first time since he solved the cypher, he was alone with his thoughts.
He stood up looking around, but all he could see was inky blackness surrounding him. He knew instinctively this wasn't his mind, but another place entirely.
Then another thought struck him. 'Am I dead?' Merlin had told him if he took in too much magic, used his abilities too extensively, it would kill him outright.
He couldn't help wondering if this was where all his incarnations went after they died, an endless void, a prison to sit and wait until the next incarnation called, if they called at all.
***
Hi! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. The consequences from the battle are still being felt by everyone involved as they try to make sense of what to do next. They are all essentially going through various stages of grief, and dealing with PTSD.
Dumbledore, always the opportunist is capitalizing on Harry's state, and moving pieces on the chessboard to put himself in the best position.
What do you think so far? Any predictions on Tonks and the Unspeakables?
Please take the time to review, let me know what's working, what's not. It helps a lot with figuring out what I need to adjust or change to improve the story.
If you would like to support me and my writing, please consider visiting https://taplink.cc/jumpin for all the stories I'm currently working on and early access to chapters 72, 73, 74, and 75 of Legacy of Merlin, along with some character portraits for Merlin, Morgan and Nimue, and an audio versions of the chapters.