Harry Potter Short Stories

Chances

Who said anything about Dementors?

The hearing against Harry Potter for the use of underage magic out of the school was going just as Fudge wanted and he had the teen exactly where he wanted: near the expelling.

Unfortunately for him, Harry Potter had an ace up his sleeve.

"Dementors? Who said anything about Dementors?" the teen asked suddenly when Dumbledore tried to explain his use of magic and Fudge tried to dismiss his claims of the creatures being out of the ministry's control.

"Then what?" Someone asked confused. The headmaster was shocked that the teen confronted his version and had no idea of what he had on mind.

"My cousin and I were attacked by a Lethifold," Harry said very seriously.

"Hem-hem, we have no reports of Lethifolds on that area," Umbridge said with a sweet smile.

"How do you expect to have one if they don't leave bodies behind?" the teen asked with an arched eyebrow. Internally, he was thanking Hermione for trying to distract him by reading some books and one of them was 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. That was how he had come up with this idea.

"The Lethifolds usually live in the tropics," Amelia Bones said with an arched eyebrow.

"This summer was very hot at the continent, Madam. It was on the news: the hottest summer in the century. It seems that it had to do with the global heating and the ozone levels," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. And it was true: it had been in all the papers and on TV during the whole summer. Then he took several news articles about the subject and offered them to Amelia Bones, who picked them with curiosity and read them quickly.

"And you are telling us that you can create a corporeal patronus?" Augusta Longbottom asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be alive if I couldn't, Madam. After all, the Patronus is the only known defense against the Lethifolds," the teen said with a smile.

"That's ridiculous! You want us to believe that someone so mediocre like you can cast one of the most advanced spells in the world?" Delores asked with a depredatory smile.

"Can you?" Harry asked with a challenging tone.

"That will be enough, Delores," Amelia said seriously to Umbridge before turning to Harry and asked, "can you prove it?"

"If I get my wand back and you assure me that I won't have any problem with doing magic out of Hogwarts, I'd love to do so," The student said with serious nod.

"Auror Tonks, return Mr. Potter's wand to him," Amelia ordered the witch, who nodded and did as ordered.

"Amelia, this is ridiculous! He's lying! It's impossible that he can cast a…" Cornelius shouted before he had to shut as everyone saw the stag that ran around the chamber, before returning to Harry, bowing to him and disappearing.

"You were saying, Minister?" Harry asked with a wide smile. Next to him, Tonks did the impossible to keep a straight face. Harry whispered, "It won't help me if you start to laugh."

"It's hard not to do it. I mean, look at their faces," the auror answered in a low voice. The teen nodded as all answer as the chaos continued inside the room.

"ORDER! ORDER!" Amelia Bones shouted and trying to get control in the chambers. She was as shocked as everyone else about the stag, but someone needed to have some control there!

"THAT PROVES NOTHING!" Fudge shouted as soon as the noise had died.

"Actually, Minister, it proves my claims that I was in a life threatening situation," Harry said seriously. Then he asked with sarcasm, "Or will you tell us that Lethifolds are not dangerous creatures anymore?"

"There's no evidence of Lethifolds in that area!" the minister shouted again.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked with a twisted smile.

"Is there?" Amelia asked as Cornelius shut his mouth as he had no answer for that.

"There might be something that could point in that direction," Harry said before taking another set of news articles and Tonks hurried to hand them to her boss.

The articles spoke about a missing teenager that had disappeared near the area where Harry casted the Patronus and no one had heard of her in several weeks.

Amelia passed copies to everyone, while thinking what this meant: it supported Harry's claims of the Lethifolds. If it wasn't that, the teen had had to be attacked by dementors and that was NOT GOOD news.

Those creatures were under the control of the minister's office and her department, and she was sure as hell that her office didn't order an attack against the teen. So that left Fudge and Umbridge behind the attack, that if there was one as Dumbledore claimed.

"But, Madam, I'm afraid that there are other… matters here," the teen said after a careful thinking of his words. When Susan's aunt arched her eyebrow, he explained, "The first matter is that the muggle that saw me doing magic was my cousin. If you consider the fact that I lived on his house since I was a baby, it's rather impossible that he didn't know about magic." Then he continued, "And if that wasn't the case, shouldn't have the MOM sent a team of obliviators there or someone to investigate the incident?"

"What a wonderful question, right, Cornelius? Would you mind explaining everyone why your office stopped that?" Amelia asked Fudge suddenly, and starting to see that there were some holes here.

"If you keep like this, I'll have to silence you! I can't win if the person next to me suddenly bursts out in laughter!" Harry whispered to Tonks, who was having TOO MUCH trouble with keeping a straight face and not laughing, especially when Fudge started to sputter and tried to make a coherent answer.

"I'm doing my best, I swear!" Tonks said, trying to muffle a chuckle.

"Madam, do I have permission to cast a silencing charm on your auror?" Harry asked Amelia very seriously.

Bones took a look at Tonks and realized that she had a major problem trying to hold her laughter. She had to admit that she would suffer the same problem if she was in Tonks' place and not trying to impart justice there.

"I won't laugh, you have my word," Tonks said very seriously, as she didn't want to get in trouble with Amelia.

"I have enough trouble holding myself, so don't make this worse!" Harry said to Tonks very seriously, as the auror finally composed herself and took a serious stand next to him.

"You said that there were other matters, Mr. Potter," Neville's grandmother said with her usual serious voice.

"The other matter, Madam Longbottom, is much worse actually," Harry said very seriously. Before anyone asked what he meant, the teen explained: "According to a law passed by the wizengamont in 1589, 'Any minor that takes part of any activity designed for people of age, will be consider as of age after the review and approval of the Wizengamont and the Ministry of Magic'."

"We didn't approve that," Umbridge said with sick smile.

"As surely Madam Bones can tell you, you didn't," Harry said with a smile and pointing to Amelia, who realized which law he talked about.

"Mr. Potter missed a part there: '…or a representative of either'," Bones said seriously, before she continued: "And as to the management of the tournament, which is the activity referred to by Mr. Potter, were Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Senior, and both were Heads of Departments at the Ministry at the Moment. And Albus Dumbledore gave his approval as the Head of the Wizengamont in that moment."

"And that means that I'm an adult, so the charge of underage use of magic is null and void," Harry stated very seriously, as everyone now tried to process his words. Then he told Amelia, "Don't tell me later that I didn't ask permission for this." He pointed his wand to Tonks and casted a silencing charm. It was obvious that the young witch was very close to lose her fight to hold her laughter.

"Mr. Potter, I sentence you to pay one hundred Galleons to Auror Tonks for assaulting her without a reason. Auror Tonks, I sentence you to pay Mr. Potter with the same amount of money for not showing the proper respect when presenting his case. Am I clear?" Amelia informed both of them very seriously, and the duo nodded.

"Who gets the donation: an orphanage or Saint Mungo's?" Harry asked her very seriously. Tonks thought for a moment and raised one finger. He smiled and shook her hand saying, "We have a deal."

"Can we continue with this?" Amelia asked them very seriously.

"Of course, Madam," the teen nodded before he continued, "As I have been recognized as an adult, I demand to use my right to use a pensieve memory of the incident to prove my claim of what happened."

"Get a pensieve," Amelia ordered Shacklebolt, who nodded and left the chambers at once.

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS, AMELIA! PENSIEVE MEMORIES ARE NOT ALLOWED AS EVIDENCE!" Cornelius shouted furiously.

"They are, Cornelius, as long as the witness demands the use and at least a member of the Wizengamont supports that. And right now, I'm VERY interested in knowing what happened," Amelia said as serious as ever.

"I second that motion," Augusta Longbottom said as serious as her old friend.

Cornelius tried to protest, but it didn't work and soon Kingsley brought the pensieve and put it close to Harry. The teen nodded and the black auror left without another word, but not before throwing a lecturing glance to Tonks. The witch had finally regained her composure and now was as serious as the situation demanded.

"Do you know how it works, Mr. Potter?" Amelia asked him and Harry nodded, as he remembered how Dumbledore had done it inside his office a couple of months ago.

"I swear on my life and magic that the testimony that I'll present today is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So mote it be," the teen said raising his wand so everyone could see and hear his bow. Then he explained with a smile, "I don't want anyone here saying that I showed you a lie, Madam."

Then he put his memory on the basin and everyone started to see it!

… … … ….

"You lied," Amelia accused the teen when the memory finished and the chaos erupted once more. Although she had her most serious face, she was trying to not smile.

"I wouldn't call that a lie. I would say that I suffered some… confusion. I mean, Lethifold, Dementors, who can really make a difference between them?" the teen asked with a smile. Thankfully, Tonks was still under the silencing charm, as she was doing her best to hide the fact that she laughing.

"Yeah, I would be confused, too," Amelia said with a snort. Then she banged her hammer and shouted: "ORDER! ORDER! SHUT UP OR I'LL HAVE TO EMPTY THE CHAMBER!" Once the silence returned, she addressed Cornelius and Delores, who were whiter than a ghost, "Only three people at the Ministry can send dementors to any location: the two of you and myself. I can testify under veritaserum that I didn't order this attack, so which of you did it?"

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" Fudge shouted immediately.

"We'll see, Cornelius," Amelia said before she ordered Shacklebolt and Rufus to gather a team of aurors and search through Fudge's and Delores' offices to try to find any evidence about this case. Then she addressed the Wizengamont and announced, "We'll have a recess of 45 minutes or till we have news of the search." Then she turned to the teen and Tonks and said, "I want to see both of you in my office for yesterday."

… … … …

"Do I need to think in another career?" Tonks asked her boss, as soon as the trio was inside Amelia's office and the teen lifted the charm.

"Sit down." Amelia ordered to them, ignoring the question. Then she gave them some parchment and explained to them that it was about the fine they both had to pay.

"I don't have that money with me, so can this wait till I contact the bank?" Harry asked seriously.

"You have until the end of the month to do so. If not, there will be some interest on the fine," Bones informed the teen, who nodded. Then she added, "I need a reason as to not fine you for your false testimony about the Lethifold."

"I thought that I had a better chance that everyone would believe it. I mean, if I went with the dementors' story, no one would have believed it at all. And that was a bit… risky," Harry explained her seriously.

In that moment, Kingsley entered and gave a parchment to Amelia. The witch took a quick look at it and her face turned red with fury.

"Inform everyone that the meeting will start again in ten minutes." Amelia said to the auror, who nodded and left in a rush. Then she passed the parchment to her companions that read it immediately:

It was the order to send the dementors to Harry's neighborhood and it was signed by both Cornelius and Umbridge.

"I'll watch your back with my life if you do the same," Harry told Tonks very seriously, as everyone realized that there might be lots of problems with the revelation.

"Just remember to do anything within the legal limits. I don't want to send both of you to Azkaban. Are we clear?" Amelia said to the duo, and both nodded. She checked her watch and said, "It's time to return."

… … … …

Everyone in Grimmauld Place were waiting for news about the hearing when Moody's little device sounded. It looked like a credit card and was used as emergency contact among aurors. He still had his since he had retired.

"Go ahead!" the old auror said, as he knew that if he was called, then that meant HUGE problems.

"There is a party at the Wizengamont! Snake Face is here with all of his minions! I thought that you might want to join it!" Kingsley shouted as he was now in the middle of a battle with several death eaters.

"Code one!" Moody shouted to everyone, entering the kitchen where the rest of the order waited for news.

"Moody, what…?" Remus asked with shock as all the adults got ready to respond to the emergency code.

"Voldemort showed his face at the wizengamont and he and his followers are throwing a party there!" the old auror said before he used the fireplace to go to the MOM. Immediately, everyone followed him in a rush.

… … … …

"Form teams! Stun anyone wearing masks!" Moody ordered the rest of the order as they ran towards the wizengamont's chamber and joined the party.

"I never thought that I would like see you scarred face so much, Alastor!" Amelia Bones shouted to him, as soon as he entered the room and found a war of spells and curses.

On the center of the room, Harry and Tonks were fighting back to back and attacking any death eater that dared to think about attacking them. In another corner, Albus Dumbledore was dueling with Voldemort and the headmaster kept a close look at the student.

"What happened?" Remus asked Kingsley, as he, Bill and Charlie went to assist him on his fight against five death eaters.

"Harry made his own case and showed Snake Face's return to everyone. That happened few moments before he made up an appearance here!" Kingsley summed it up for everyone.

"What the hell is that box?" Charlie asked suddenly, as he noticed a little box that floated very near to where Dumbledore and Voldemort dueled. Everyone also noticed that Harry kept looking at it from time to time.

"Let's find out!" Remus said before the four joined Harry and Tonks in their duels. A moment later, Moody and Amelia joined them and they gathered their efforts to take down all the possible death eaters.

"It's something that the twins created for me if Voldemort kidnapped me!" Harry explained them and pointing to the box.

"What does it do?" Amelia asked seriously, as everyone realized that it was some kind of last resort for that case.

"If they did it as I asked, it creates an explosion strong enough to be measured by the Richter scale!" Harry said with a twisted smile, before he added: "The one thousand galleons I gave them was the best money that I EVER spent!"

"Can it be activated?" Remus asked, as they saw a good chance to kill Voldemort with that box. And obviously, that was Harry's plan.

"We'll have ONLY ONE chance to do so. I can buy five minutes if I duel with him. You'll have to cast your most powerful exploding charm and aim it to the box. But I'll be having a problem as I won't be able to defend myself, so half of you will have to cast a VERY powerful shield around me before the box blows," the teen said before he added, "We have one chance and I have no idea if we'll have another one as good as this one ever again."

"Bill, Moody, you two and me will cast the shield! The rest of you will get ready to blow that box!" Amelia ordered the rest of the group as everyone knew that he was right about the chance.

"Wait for my signal!" Harry shouted before he ran towards Voldemort when the dark lord had disarmed Dumbledore and got ready to kill the Headmaster. The teen stood between them and said: "Hello, Tom, I seem to remember that we have some businesses unfinished from the last time we saw each other."

"Potter, it's very nice of you that you decided to come to play," The dark lord said with a sick smile, as both circled each other.

"I have this under control," Harry told Dumbledore, as subtly pointed to the group with his head. Albus looked at them and realized that they had something planned and he had to be out of their way immediately.

"Good luck, Harry." He told the teen, who nodded as he still kept an eye on his opponent and the old wizard joined Amelia and the others.

"Get ready to cast your most powerful shield around Mr. Potter when he gives us a signal," Bones told Dumbledore, before pointing to the box and explaining him what it was.

"You know that we'll never have a better chance to kill him, Albus," Remus told him, when the headmaster didn't look too convinced with the idea.

"Decide if you are part of the solution or part of the problem, but do it now," Moody said seriously, as Harry and Voldemort started to exchange some minor spells. Albus took his place next to Bill and got ready to do his part of the plan.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" The dark lord shouted.

"DIFFINDO!" Harry shouted at the same time.

Just as he had planned, both spells met in the air and they crashed against each other. Once more, they produced the effect of the priori incantatem.

"Their wands are sisters," Albus explained to everyone, as they looked confused with this event.

"He just needs to keep it like that for long enough to weak 'You-Know-Who,'" Charlie said as they all realized the plan and why Harry had said that he couldn't defend himself when the box exploded: he would lift his attack moments before the group threw their spells and he wouldn't have time to cast a shield for himself.

When Harry's spell started to get very close to Voldemort, he put his left hand behind his back and showed five fingers: it was his signal to get ready to do their job as soon as he reached to zero.

4…

Kingsley, Remus, Tonks and Charlie raised their wands and aimed it to the box.

3…

Albus, Amelia, Moody and Bill pointed their wands to Harry, ready to cast the shield.

2…

All of them got readier than ever to do the job and did their best to ignore the nerves that each felt.

1…

They started to say the first letter of the charms that they had to use.

0…

Harry raised his wand ending the priori incantatem.

"BOMBARDA!" Remus and the rest of his group shouted at the same time pointing their wands to the box.

Albus and the others casted several different shields, each of them were part of their secret arsenal and none of them said the incantation aloud. Four different shields surrounded Harry immediately.

The exploding charms had the desired effect and hit the box as planned, making it explode immediately and shaking the room and the building with its force.

The explosion was huge and blew everything in 20 meters in all the directions: that included glasses, windows, stunned death eaters and, of course, Voldemort.

His body was disintegrated with the explosion and he never had a chance to scream as it happened.

The group ran towards where Harry was, trying to avoid the ruins that were left after the explosion. They found the teen inside the shields, having problems to stand and trying to catch his breath. Immediately, Albus and the others finished their charms and ran to him.

"GET A DOCTOR!" Amelia ordered to an auror. The man nodded and ran to do it, scared of having to face her anger.

"I'll be ok in a minute, Madam," Harry said seriously, although he put a hand on the first shoulder that he found, looking for support there: Bill's. Then he told the redhead, "Move and you are a dead man."

"It wasn't in my plans to do so," Bill said with a smile, as everyone else chuckled.

"Take a seat, Mr. Potter," Amelia ordered and created a chair for him. Instead of arguing, the teen nodded and sat down heavily at the same moment that the first doctors arrived to the scene and one of hurried towards him.

"I have a very stupid question for you two," Harry said to Amelia and Albus as the doctor checked him. Then he asked, "Who is in charge of the MOM?"

"I have no damn idea," Bones said very seriously. She looked at the Headmaster, who had no idea either.

"If my word counts for anything, Madam Bones, you should take the job. I mean, who better to do the job that someone who helped to kill a dark lord in front of so many witnesses?" Harry said, pointing with his hand to the remaining members of the wizengamont that had been also part of the fight but hadn't been close to the main battles.

"I second that motion," Augusta Longbottom said loud enough so everyone could hear it. Then she asked, "Does anyone else support it?"

"I do," Albus said with a serious nod. Even if he was removed from his place as the head of it, he still had a lot of power and allies inside the wizengamont. Those people, plus the ones that were with Augusta, would be enough to put Amelia in office, even if it was in a temporary way.

All around them, the other members supported those votes and it was clear that the motion would be approved by a high number.

"Do you accept the post as temporary Minister, Madam Bones?" Albus asked her seriously.

"I do accept it," Amelia said with a very serious nod. She turned to Arthur Weasley, who had joined them at the moment and ordered him to call all of the other heads of departments to have an emergency meeting ASAP.

"We'll take him home, Dad," Charlie said to him, when Arthur looked worriedly in Harry's direction as to see if he was ok. Then, the redhead left to do his job, but not before giving another look to the teen, as to make sure that he was ok.

"He's ok, just a bit exhausted. He just needs some rest and to not do too much magic for a few days," the doctor announced to everyone, before he wrote a list of potions that he would need to drink for a few days. Then he looked around as wondering who would make sure that he followed the orders.

"I'll take care of that," Remus said with a nod and took the parchment.

"Ok, before I leave to have this emergency meeting, I have a few things that I want all of you to do for me," Amelia addressed the group and continued, "I want to meet Sirius Black and the Weasley twins as soon as the chaos is controlled. And the word 'no' is out of the question as an answer for that. Am I clear?"

"We'll make sure of that, Minister," Bill assured her with a serious nod.

"And you two still have to pay the fine. Heroes or not, my decision stands on that matter!" Amelia told Harry and Tonks seriously. Although all of them could see the ghost of a smile on her face that said that she was not as serious as she pretended to show.

"We'll make a donation on Monday to some orphanage," Harry assured her with a smile.

"It's time to return home and deal with mom," Charlie commented to the teen, that lost all the color in his face with his last sentence.

I would prefer to face Voldie once more before having to deal with her," Harry said very seriously to everyone.

"It's not that bad, Harry. I'm sure that you'll survive," Bill said with a twisted smile.

"I'll pay one thousand galleons if you set anti-banshee wards on my room," the teen said very seriously to the curse breaker.

"Why against Banshees?" Remus asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I fail to see ay difference between one of them and Mrs. Weasley when she's angry and shouts at anyone. So I'm sure that the wards should work perfectly."

Everyone laughed as they made their way to the apparition point to return home. Remus apparated with Harry and he and Bill had to help him to enter the house, as he was barely able to stand.

… … … …

"I'll give up my title for a comfortable bed," Harry muttered to both men as the group entered and they were immediately assaulted by the rest of the order that demanded answers.

"Voldemort is dead," Remus said as he and Bill helped Harry to reach a sofa and he was laid there.

"WHAT?" Everyone asked in shock.

Then Kingsley and Tonks told everyone about the hearing and Voldemort's appearance. Then the rest of the group told them about the fight and the box that the twins had invented for Harry and how they had used it to kill the dark lord.

"By the way, Minster Bones DEMANDS to meet with you two and won't accept a negative," Tonks told the twins very seriously. The twins went a bit pale with the words, but nodded seriously and assured her that they would be there as soon as they were informed.

"What fine do you two have to pay?" Bill suddenly asked Harry and Tonks, remembering what Amelia had said at the end of their short chat.

Both of them burst out in laughter and explained everyone what had happened between them while Harry did his best to sell the story of the lethifolds to everyone in the wizengamont.

"She found the whole situation too amusing and I had to silence her if I wanted to win my case. It wouldn't have helped me at all if she laughed while standing next to me, right?" The teen asked with an ironic smile.

"So we have to pay one hundred galleons to each other for that. And we decided to make a donation," Tonks said with a smile. Then she asked, "Does anyone have one hundred galleons to lend me to pay that fine?"

Before anyone could offer her that money, Molly Weasley exploded and started to shout to Kingsley and Tonks for not bringing Harry immediately to the house and exposing him to an unnecessary risk like that! Then she also shouted at everyone else that was there for not being intelligent and for doing something as risky as what they did!

"Are you saying that we should let go the best chance we could have had in years to kill him?" Harry shouted to her completely furious. If everyone had gone quiet with Molly's rant, now they went completely mute as none of them wanted to receive the teen's anger for a second time. All of them remembered his reaction when he was taken to the house!

"I didn't say that! I said that that plan was..." Molly started to shout back but Harry cut her off.

"Reckless, stupid, crazy and with little chance of success?" He asked before he answered his own question: "EVERYONE there knew that! And if we would have had more time and the chance, I'm sure that anyone could have come up with goddamn fucking best plan! But guess what? We took our fucking chance to stop this damn war before it really started!"

"Harry…" Molly started to say, but Harry wasn't going to hear her this time. Now it was his time to speak!

"No, you listen this time!" the teen shouted fiercely and Molly shut her mouth for first time in a VERY long time. Then he continued his rant, "Who the hell do you that you are to come to tell me what I can or cannot do! I have fucking breaking news for you, Mrs. Weasley: I'm not one of your sons! And I can take of myself better on my own than with your so called help! Or have you forgotten how I finished in that hearing?

"You say that, Hermione, Ron, the twins, Ginny and are too young to know what's going on, but guess what? When the problems show up at Hogwarts, you are not there to fix them! And WE are the ones who do it! I've risked my life for five years. What have you been doing in that time?"

Molly was too shocked to answer and looked at the other for help, but this time she was on her own. No one would try to help her.

"If I thought like you that I was too young to do anything, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny would be dead right now! Or have you forgotten who saved her from the Chamber on her first year? It wasn't Dumbledore or any other teacher: it was RON and I who went there to rescue her! Perhaps you forgot that part too, but everyone seemed unwilling to do anything to save her and they decided to let her die there!"

"Harry, I think that's enough," Sirius said with a serious tone of voice, not very normal on him.

"No, Sirius, I've just started!" Harry shouted to his godfather before he turned his attention to the Marauder and started a new rant, "Care to explain me what is the role that you are supposed to have in my life? Because I still haven't seen any help from you."

"That's not true!" Sirius shouted to him, ignoring Remus when his best friend tried to stop him from answering the teen's words.

"Is it not?" Harry asked with a sarcastic laughter. Then he asked, "The only goddamn time that I needed you was the night of the third task. What did you do? You left! Your first priority should have been me! Instead of that, you ran like a coward!"

"I thought…" Sirius tried to say, but not finding words to continue.

"You really thought? Just like when you went after the rat?" Harry asked with more sarcasm. Then he continued, "How log did it take to find Fletcher and Mrs. Figg? Because there is no way that I believe that you weren't in touch with Remus after both left. Or what will you tell me, Sirius? You only had time to send me a letter from time to time and then to report to the headmaster?"

Before Sirius answered Harry's accusations, Snape arrived to the house and the teen turned his anger against him.

"Look who's here: the great spy that failed to report that his master would show up at the wizengamont and then ran away from the problems! Where were you, Snoopy? Were you giving a blowjob to one you many clients? Or this time you had someone fucking your useless ass?"

"Insolent…" Snape started to say furiously, and taking his wand. But Harry was much faster and before the professor's wand was out of his robes, the student had his pointed into his eyes.

"I just killed your lord. Do you really think that you are an equal to me?" Harry asked before he added, "And without turning around, I know that the whole order has their wands out and they point them to us. Can you guess how many of them are pointing wands at me?" Then he answered his own question, "None of them. Right now, you are the target of all of them."

Snape took a quick look around and saw that Potter wasn't lying: everyone's wand was pointed at him and all of them were ready to attack him at the first opportunity. He muttered a curse as he removed his hands from his robes.

The teen lowered his own wand and the rest of the order did the same with a sigh of relief. Then Harry punched Snape in the face and knocked him out.

"Bill?" Harry called and the redhead rushed to his side immediately. Then the teen smiled and said, "I'm in love with your shoulder, you know?" Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and passed out.

Bill saw what was about to happen and got ready to catch his fall when it happened. He picked him up on his arms and turned to the rest of the order.

"Can someone show me his room?" He asked with a smile and Ron and Hermione rushed to do it. Before he followed them, Bill told Alastor, "Come on, we need to set a few wards on his room."

"Wards for what?" Everyone asked Charlie, as he, Remus, Tonks and Kingsley laughed with his words.

"Against banshees. Although I think that they'll also add some against vampires and canines," Charlie said with a smile, pointing first to his Mom, then to Sirius and lastly to the still unconscious Snape.

"I think that we should take a break and rest for a while before we wait for Albus' return," Remus suggested to everyone, seeing that the things were really bad now and they needed to calm down.

Everyone nodded and took different ways. Sirius was left alone with Remus and the werewolf could see that the teen had really hurt him with his words.

"Sirius, he was tired and didn't realize what he was saying," Remus said putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"He was right, Moony, I failed him as always. He might been angry, but he knew what he was saying and I know that he was right. I'm a failure as godfather," Sirius said nearly crying. And his friend had no words for that.

… … … …

When Albus returned to Grimmauld, it was late and there was no one around. Thankful for a bit of peace, he went to make a cup of tea and found Remus doing the same.

"How was it?" The former teacher asked him, as he served him some tea.

"Don't ask, Remus. Among the people that were arrested or dead on the fight, were several heads of departments and at least twenty members of the wizengamont. It will take days to bring some normality to the MOM," Albus said with a heavy sigh.

"See the good side, Albus. This time there won't be someone corrupt at the office," The young man said with a smile and raising his cup for a toast, "To Voldemort's death."

"Amen," the headmaster said with a smile. Then he asked, "What happened here while I was gone?"

"Molly shouted as she was unhappy with the plan and Harry lost it," Remus summed it up with a heavy sigh and retold him about what had occurred after the order's members returned from the battle.

"I have to agree with Molly in one way, Remus: that plan was a bit crazy," Dumbledore said seriously.

"I know it, Albus, as a matter of fact that's exactly what I thought when Harry suggested it. But truth to be told, he had something in his favor: We didn't know if we would have another chance like that EVER AGAIN," the werewolf said as serious as his former teacher.

"And I have to agree with that, too," Albus said with another sigh.

They had had one chance to end the war before it really started and they took it. Albus didn't want to think what would have happened if it had failed, but fortunately that hadn't happen!

"You know what they say, Albus: who dares wins," Alastor said with a smile, joining the duo of men. Once more, Remus raised his cup for a toast and the retired aurors joined in.

"Harry?" Albus asked them, trying to change the topic.

"He's sleeping in a very heavily warded room," Bill said with a chuckle and joining them. In a matter of seconds, the rest of the order joined them too.

"What wards did you set up?" Albus asked curiously.

"There are wards against banshees for Mom, against vampires for Snape and against canines for Sirius. And no adult can enter it unless Harry gives permission," Bill said with a smile.

"I'M NOT A BANSHEE/VAMPIRE!" Molly and Snape shouted at the same time.

"You are still undefined," Bill said to his former teacher, then he told his mother, "Scream like that a bit more, and I'll agree with Harry when he said that finds no difference between you and them."

When Molly was about to shout again, Remus turned to her, and shouted, "SHUT UP, MOLLY! NO ONE HERE IS INTERESTED IN HEARING YOUR VOICE!"

"Remus, please lower you voice. We have enough with one banshee in this house," Tonks said with a sarcastic smile.

"My apologies," the werewolf said with more sarcasm.

"Did you have fun at the MOM, Headmaster?" Charlie asked with a smile, before his mom opened her mouth and started shouting once more.

"I had a beautiful time, Charles. I hadn't had so much fun in a while to tell the truth," Albus said with a bit of sarcasm and the redhead smiled once more. Then he told Sirius, "Amelia wants to have your trial as soon as the things settle down a bit. It should be before the start of the school."

"What about the twins?" Shacklebolt asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I quote her words on that, 'I'm interested in investing money in new businesses. And their shop seems to be quite interesting one.' End of quote," Albus said with a smile.

"Well, I know someone who's really happy with his investment on them," Tonks said chuckling.

"Harry said, 'The one thousand galleons I gave them was the best money that I EVER spent'. And seeing the results…" Bill said laughing.

"Where did he get…?" Minerva started to ask, before realization hit everyone, "You mean to tell me that he gave them the money that he won at the tournament?"

"It seems to be the case," Albus said with a smile.

"Hell, I wasn't interested in keeping that money, you know?" Everyone turned to see Harry entering the room, using a cane and sitting next to Tonks.

"How are you feeling?" the Auror asked worriedly.

"I feel as if a damn eighteen wheeler hit me," Harry said, before he told Sirius, "Advice for any future guest that you plan to have here: Put more comfortable beds at the bedrooms. I feel as if I slept in a bed of bricks."

"You REALLY gave the galleons from the tournament to the twins?" Charlie asked him seriously.

"In my defense, Charlie, I'll say that I wasn't thinking clearly at the moment," Harry said seriously.

"And what would you have done if you thought clearly?" Tonks asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Hell if I know!" The teen said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It's good to see that you had clear priorities," Snape said with sarcasm.

"I had my main priority clear: survive a fucking dark lord that wanted me dead," Harry said with more sarcasm.

"Calm down now," Albus ordered them before a new fight started.

"I'm calm," the teen said with a smile. Then he took his wand and threw a curse against Snape, who barely had time to dodge. Then Harry said, "Perhaps not one hundred percent calm, but fighting a dark lord may frazzle your nerves a bit." Then he threw another curse against the potion master, who unfortunately couldn't avoid it and ended being blasted against the wall.

"HARRY!" Everyone shouted angrily as Albus went to check the fallen professor.

"He is a death eater! It means he worked for the bastard that wanted me dead! How can I be sure that he wouldn't want to finish the task for his deceased master?" The teen said seriously.

"He is in our side," Dumbledore said seriously as he finished healing his injuries.

"Headmaster, do you want me to believe that Voldemort launched an attack against the Wizengamont and planned it in the few minutes of recess that happened between the end of my memory and when Madam Bones started the hearing again?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow. Then he added, "Am I the only one who finds something strange on this situation?"

"No, Potter, I find that situation very intriguing too," Moody said very seriously and had his wand pointed to the spy.

"Put it down, Alastor, Harry. Severus, explain yourself," Albus ordered to the trio, not leaving place to argue his orders.

"He never told me about any attack," Snape said seriously and taking his seat again.

"And you were supposed to be the spy? I guess that means that he didn't trust you as much as you wanted to have everyone believe," Harry said seriously.

"Harry," Albus said with a warning tone of voice. The teen raised his hands and kept quiet.

"I'll have you expelled, Potter!" Snape shouted to Harry, who barked in laughter as answer.

"You really think, Snoopy, that anyone will believe your word over mine? That a death eater will have more support than the person who saved the wizarding world TWICE? Keep dreaming!" Harry said laughing and leaving the meeting.

Sirius stood and left after him, and shouted his name to stop. Harry stopped and waited for him, before both walked upstairs, back to the teen's room.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I was tired and stressed at that moment. Let's say that Mrs. Weasley's shouts just made it worse," the teen said very seriously as both reached to his room.

"Did you really mean what you said? That I failed you as a godfather?" Sirius said seriously and stopping him from entering. He knew that he could go inside unless he was invited and wanted to know the grounds where he stood before trying to do so.

"You could have done several things better, but given the circumstances and my history, you did the best you could," Harry said, after thinking his answer carefully for a few moments. Then he entered his room. When Sirius stayed outside, he asked, "What are you waiting for, a formal written invitation?"

"The wards…" Sirius said as he entered and Harry sat on the bed.

"They are there to stop Mrs. Weasley. Although, I might ask Bill to add Snoopy," Harry said seriously, as this godfather sat in a chair next to the bed. Then the teen asked: "Any idea when is your trial? If Madam Bones asked to see you, then that will mean that you are getting one, right?"

"Dumbledore said it will be before the school starts. First we need to wait till the things are a bit calmer," Sirius said seriously. Then he asked, "What's Snoopy?"

Harry burst out in laughter and told him about the comic's character. Sirius burst out in laughter after he heard it. When he calmed down, he saw that Harry was sleeping again and covered him with sheet before he left the room as quietly as possibly.

… … … …

Two days later, Harry went down for breakfast for first time since the battle at the wizengamont and the order's meeting of that night. Hermione was next to him, in case he needed someone to help him as he still used the cane.

"Who died?" The seeker asked to Hermione as the room fell silent as soon as both came in.

"It was no one that we should know probably. I mean, we are very young to know anything that really matters, right?" Hermione said with a sarcastic smile as both took their seats.

"How do you feel?" Remus asked Harry seriously, as everyone recovered themselves from the shock and the normal noise returned.

"I'm fine," the teen assured him with a serious voice. Then he turned to the twins and said with a sweet smile, "Gentlemen, it seems that we have some business to talk about."

"What business?" The whole order asked at the same time.

"This is an offer I'm ready to make to both of you, with my conditions which, by the way, are NOT negotiable," Harry stated seriously, giving them a piece of parchment.

The twins read the paper quickly and their eyes went wide with what they read. Then they checked the conditions and looked at Harry who had an evil smile. The duo of pranksters looked at each other for a moment and then nodded to the teen.

"We have a deal!" The redheads said and shook hands with their friend.

"What deal is it?" Everyone asked at the same time.

""I need to make a trip to the Alley today. Does anyone want to come?" Harry asked, ignoring the question.

"Harry, it's not a good idea that you leave," Molly said sternly.

"Mrs. Weasley, let me be clear on something. The wizengamont recognized me as an adult during the hearing. That means that I can do WHATEVER I want, WHEN I want and HOW I want, without the need to ask permission to ANYONE. Do you understand me?" Harry asked her, before he said to Hermione, "Did I say that in English? I want to make sure that I talk a language that EVERYONE here understands."

"Yes, it was English," the brunette said with a nod.

"Are you two together?" Tonks suddenly asked the duo.

"They are not!" Ron exclaimed half laughing with the idea. When they didn't answer, he asked, "You are not, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, Ron, we've been together for four months," Harry said with a nod.

"Why didn't you ever tell anyone?" Ginny asked the duo, as shocked as everyone else.

"Well, we never had the time to do so, especially after Voldemort returned. I didn't think that it would be a good idea to make her a bigger target than she was because she's a muggleborn," Harry said very seriously, and no one could argue with that.

"But you didn't keep in touch this summer," Tonks commented to the teens.

"Not officially," they said with a twisted smile.

"What do you mean with that?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"We didn't use Hedwig for it, but it doesn't mean that we didn't keep in touch," Harry said with a smile. When someone was about to say something, "And since when do I have to give any fucking explanation about what I do? Breaking news: none of you are my parents so I don't see a reason to tell you anything." Then he turned to Sirius, pointed his wand to his balls and said, "Mess with me and you'll have to ask your mother how you would have been named in case you were a girl. Is that clear to you or do you want me to give you a practical explanation?"

"It's very clear," The marauder said seriously, eyeing the wand with caution.

"Pity. I wanted the practical part," Hermione said with a sarcastic laughter, while Harry lowered his wand.

"I wanted that too." The seeker said with a smile.

"I'm not interested on that, sorry," Sirius said with a shrug.

In that moment, Albus arrived and looked around till he spotted Harry. Then he said, "The minister would like to have a meeting with you. Once more, the word 'no' will not be accepted."

"Do you have the list of supplies for the school year?" Harry asked his girlfriend, and ignoring the headmaster. And that was something everyone noticed.

"Not yet," Hermione said shaking her head.

"Your plans for the day will have to wait, ,arry." Albus insisted seriously.

"I might be going crazy. I thought that I heard someone talking to me, but no one is doing so," the teen commented and shrugged his shoulders. Then he turned to Hermione and said that it was time to leave.

"Harry…" Albus started to say and placing a hand on the teen's shoulder. The next thing that he knew was that he was on the floor and Harry's wand was pointed to his neck.

"What's the matter? You don't like to be ignored, Dumblecock? Guess what: neither do I," the student said with venom on his voice. Then he turned to Snape and said, "You better watch your back."

"Is that a threat?" The potions master asked with his sneer.

"No, I don't threat. I act," the teen said before he threw seven different curses against the teacher, each of them nastier than the previous.

Snape barely had time to dodge or shield them, before Albus disarmed the teen. Everyone sighed in relief, but it lasted too little, as Harry took a knife from the table and threw it straight to Snape's throat, that didn't have time to defend himself or avoid the attack. The knife hit its target and blood started to leave Severus' throat.

"He's not dead. I did something worse," Harry said with a twisted smile as everyone ran to attend him.

"What did you do that could be worse than death?" Tonks asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I hit his vocal cords. He'll be mute till his death," the teen said with a maniac laughter before he and Hermione left.

"Oh, that's lovely!" The twins exclaimed at the same time.

"Snape mute! Our wildest dreams come true!" Ginny shouted. The rest of the house tried to help Severus while the teens started a celebration. Once he knew his nemesis wouldn't die, Sirius joined it too.

… … … …

Amelia Bones was at her office going through several papers, when her temporary secretary informed her that Harry Potter was there for their meeting.

"Send him in," Amelia said with a smile.

"He's not alone," the witch said with a serious tone of voice and disdain for his companion. Amelia knew that that person was either a squib or a muggleborn by her facial expression. She also made a mental note to replace her ASAP.

"Send them in," Amelia ordered her and the witch left without another word. A moment later, the teens entered and Harry introduced the girl as Hermione Granger, his girlfriend.

"We are sorry for not coming earlier but we had to deal with a little… problem," Harry said as the three sat down and the secretary brought them drinks.

"I'm almost afraid to ask: what problem?" Amelia asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, we have to take measures about all the reports that the Prophet printed about us during last year and this summer," Harry said, as he handed her a parchment: it was a lawsuit for a million of galleons for slandering their names and the writing of several wrong reports that turned into life threats against Hermione. Then they explained her about the mail that she got after the second task and Rita's article.

"Is the Ministry about to be sued too?" Amelia asked seriously, as Fudge had been behind all the articled that the Prophet printed that summer.

"Everything will depend of this meeting," Hermione stated seriously.

"How are the things going?" Harry asked seriously, and Amelia knew that this was a business meeting,

"You want the truth? It's a disaster," the minister said with a heavy sigh and showed them some parchments.

They were mainly financial reports of every department, plus the numbers of its employees, ranks within them and their salaries. Harry thought that there were too many employees in some minor departments, while some of the most the important ones had too few. The salary difference was also huge in several cases.

The last report caught their attention and Harry whistled at it: it was the budget that was presented by three different companies for the fixing of the ministry's destroyed areas.

Although he knew that it wouldn't be cheap, this was too much. And the differences between the money needed by each company was also large.

"Oh, and there are some people who demand you pay it as it was your box the responsible of the destruction," Amelia said to Harry.

"Let me guess: they are members of the wizengamont that were too busy escaping Voldemort and his death eaters' attack?" The hero asked with sarcasm. Amelia's silence was the best answer to that question.

"Who does the rebuilding?" Hermione asked suddenly. She saw that the employees' salaries were too low. That meant that they probably were house elves and the number was not real.

"A mix of elves, goblins and one or two wizards to make sure that the work is done 'properly,'" Bones said with more sarcasm. Then she continued: "Of the money asked, five percent is for salaries; 25 percent is for materials; 10 for the people that make the draw of the necessary work and the rest of the money is the company's profit."

"Is that the theory or the practice?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow.

"It's the theory. In the practice, the first three numbers are lower so the profits are larger," Madam Bones explained seriously.

"Do you have a pen and notepad?" Harry asked suddenly. The Minister arched an eyebrow, but gave the items anyway. He stood and said with a smile, "Let's take a walk."

"I'll be back soon," Amelia told her secretary, before the trio left.

For the next 40 minutes, the teens and Amelia checked the damage that the building suffered. The duo of students took several notes and discussed some things in whispers.

"May I ask what do you have in mind?" Amelia asked seriously, when they were almost done.

"You may ask, but I may not answer that," Harry said with a smile, before he asked when she would decide which budget would be used for the fixing.

"I'll make the decision on Monday," Bones said seriously, not being happy at all with his refusal to answer. But she knew that it was better to not ask.

"We'll meet again then," Harry said before he added, "If I have to pay for this, I want a new opinion. Because, those budgets are nothing but grand larceny!"

"See you on Monday then," the witch said with a nod before the teens left the building.

… … … …

A few hours later, Harry and Hermione returned to Grimmauld and Molly started to shout to them demanding answers about where they had been and such.

"Sirius, with Voldemort dead, I thought that Dumbledore would have disbanded the order," Harry said suddenly to his godfather.

"He did it last night," Sirius said with a nod.

"Then why are the members still here?" The teen said seriously, before he went to the library with Hermione after him.

"Be careful, or I might kick you out of here, Molly. Leave Harry alone or you'll answer to me!" the marauder threatened to the redhead very seriously. He was getting very tired of her attitude and now he saw a good reason to have her out of the house.

"Sirius, I want the best for him!" the witch shouted.

"So do I, but I don't pester him at every moment," the fugitive said seriously, before adding, "This is MY House and you are a GUEST. You should remember that." Without another word, he went to the library, too. He had the feeling that his godson was up to some mischief and wanted to know what it was and if he could be on it too!

… … … …

"What?" A very annoyed Harry asked him, when the teen opened the door.

"What are you two planning this time?" Remus asked, joining his friend along the twins. The three of them smelt some mischief too and they wanted to be part of it!

"We are planning to make a LOT of enemies," Hermione said with a wave of her hand, as if it was nothing too important.

"Oh, that sounds nice!" The twins said with a twisted smile, before both chorused, "We are in!"

"You don't know what we have in mind," Harry said with an arched eyebrow.

"Indeed we don't…"

"…But knowing you two..."

"It will be a lot of fun!"

"What do you have in mind?" Remus asked seriously.

"And who are you going to screw this time?" Sirius asked, as the four took seat near the duo.

"Just the building companies of the WW," Harry said with a smile. Then he explained that the wizengamont demanded that he pay for the repair of the ministry's building and the budgets that Madam Bones got for the job.

"So we decided to make our own budget and build our own company," Hermione said seriously, and took the story, "We contacted Gringotts and the goblins are more than happy to help us as long as they get a piece of the cake too. We have house elves to do the work and we'll pay them, too."

"Now, we are checking the prices for the materials and deciding which of them are the best for this job," Harry said before he gave them copies of the pricelists and showed them what they had in mind.

"You were not joking when you said that you would make a lot of enemies," Remus muttered with a sigh.

""How bad is this?" Fred asked confused.

"They plan to go against some of the most powerful companies in the wizarding world. They are not known for being friendly when they lose a job," the werewolf said seriously.

"And this will make them lose THOUSANDS of galleons," Hermione said as serious as the former professor.

"This is lovely!" The twins said with a twisted smile.

"These two start to scare me," Sirius muttered to Remus.

"I'm past beyond that point. They freak me out," Remus said with a sigh, before the group started to work.

… … … …

Amelia Bones was a having a bad Monday and it was only 9.00 a.m.

She was in her office meeting with the owners of the three main building companies and they were telling her about their projects. And she didn't like any of them: neither the men nor their plans!

The three wizards were known for being ruthless and using a lot of scare tactics against anyone who dared to go against their plans or companies. One of them was suspected of ordering the murder of at least ten people that lived in an area where he wanted to build some manors that would be sold by large sums of money! And the other two weren't angels either!

"Come in!" The Minister shouted when someone knocked the door.

"We are sorry for the lateness. We had a little problem with the paperwork," Harry said, as he entered with Hermione, the twins and a big black dog.

"Which paperwork?" Amelia asked with an arched eyebrow.

"The papers for our new construction company," Hermione said, handing her a lot of parchments. Then she pointed to the last and said, "That's our budget for fixing the ministry."

"You started a construction company?" Amelia asked, making sure that she had heard right, while taking a look at all the papers.

"As a matter of fact, we are just one of the investors. Gringotts is the other," Harry said with a smile.

The three men paled, as Gringotts was the source of the materials and now they were part of a company. That meant that they wouldn't be selling materials cheaply any longer and they would keep their best ones for their own projects!

"Madam, there was a deadline to present the projects for this work!" One of the men said heatedly, trying to not lose the job.

"Yes, but if we have in mind that it's Mr. Potter the one who'll put the money, we can make some exceptions," Amelia said with a smile, and checking the teen's budget. She liked what she saw: it was much cheaper than the others; it would take half the time that the other companies claimed that they would need and she also liked the suggestions that they made. Then she asked to all of them, "When are your companies ready to start on this?"

"As a matter of fact, Madam, the house elves that will do it are waiting outside. They'll start to do it immediately if we get the job," Harry said very seriously. The other three men said that they could start on Tuesday.

… … … …

Arthur, Percy and Albus went to Amelia's office a few minutes after that and they told the secretary that they wanted to meet the minister. Arthur had a camera as he wanted a picture of the twins wearing formal dress robes. He was certain that it would be the only time that an event like that would occur in history.

They were about to knock when the door was blasted by a hex coming from inside. The three wizards took their wands out and went inside, only to find that the situation was over before it really started.

Harry and Amelia had their wands pointed to the main bidder, the twins had theirs pointed to the second wand and Snuffles was on the top of the third while Hermione had her wand pointed to his neck.

"GET THE AURORS!" Amelia barked to the trio. Percy nodded and ran to get the officers. A minute later, Tonks, Kingsley and a team of aurors arrived and took the three men in handcuffs.

"Are all of you ok?" the minister asked to the four teens that nodded in answer.

"What happened?" Albus asked seriously, as all of them sat down.

"The argument for the repairs of the MOM got nasty," Harry said with a smile. Then he called Dobby and told him the project had the green light and they could start to work immediately. The elf nodded and was gone with a 'pop'.

"Doesn't that elf work for Lucius Malfoy?" Amelia asked Harry with an arched eyebrow.

"He used to. Now he's a free elf," the teen said with another smile.

"Now let's get to business, shall we?" Amelia said, knowing better than to ask. She turned to the twins and said, "Gentlemen, I'm interested in buying a share of your shop. If that box was any indication of what can be your job, your products will be a gold mine."

"I'm afraid that…" Fred started to say seriously.

"…We can't do that!" His twin finished.

"May I ask the reason?" Amelia asked seriously, as Percy looked as if he would pass out soon. Then she told them, "And stop with the twin chat! It gives me a headache!"

"Madam, when we got the idea for the shop, no one had trust on it: not our teachers, not our family and neither most of our friends," Fred started to say as serious as he had ever been.

"Only Harry was crazy enough to trust on that idea and give us money. The circumstances around those galleons were special, though," George said.

"It was the money that I won at the tournament," Said teen explained everyone, and continued, "As you can imagine, I didn't feel comfortable with it and these two needed some help."

"Does Molly know about this?" Amelia asked Arthur with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, she does, and no, she's not too thrilled with it," the redhead said with a sigh.

"But returning to the matter at hand, we decided to not have more business partners than the one that had faith on us: Harry," Fred said seriously.

"That makes sense," the minister said with a nod, as she now understood the reasons of their denial.

"But, Madam, WE sell shares in our company," Harry said with a smile and gave her a parchment that she read quickly, while he continued: "You get five percent of the shares and of the profits, but you have neither voice nor vote. That remains to me, Dobby as the elves' representative, and the goblins."

"Inform Gringotts to take the money from my vault," the witch said with a nod as she liked the project. Then she asked, "And where is your godfather?"

"Amy, so long! How have you been?" Sirius said, as he changed from the dog to his human form. A moment later, he ducked a nasty hex from Amelia. Then the marauder muttered, "I see that you are still angry with me."

"Do you want me to remind you what happened the last time that were together?" the minister asked with a twisted smile.

"Never leave a woman's house without saying goodbye after spending the night together. That makes them angry," Sirius told his Godson.

"Ok, stop with that! I go to school with your niece, Madam! If I get anymore information about something like that, I'll never be able to look at her face!" The teen said to Amelia. Then he told Sirius, "Are you dumb or just stupid? You should NEVER leave a lady's house without saying goodbye! It's simple logic!"

"I was both back then," Sirius said with a sheepish smile.

"Just then?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"Ok, ok, I've been both since I was born!" Sirius admitted.

"Take Mr. Black to a cell. We'll hold the trial in the morning," Amelia ordered the aurors who entered right after her hex was noticed.

"See you in a few hours, Amy," Sirius said with a smile, before he dodged a new hex and left the room laughing.

"How did you call him in private?" Harry asked with a curious smile.

"Is there anything else that you want to discuss?" Amelia asked, ignoring his question.

"As a matter of fact, there is one: my custody," Harry said, turning very serious now.

"Mr. Black will get it as your godfather, Harry," Albus said with his grandfather tone of voice.

"I'm afraid that I won't quit trying to earn my emancipation and Sirius has agreed to it. We discussed that matter last night," the teen informed the minister, ignoring Dumbledore's words and acting as if he wasn't there.

"If that's your choice and Sirius has agreed to it, we'll do nothing against those wishes." Amelia said with a serious nod. She had noticed the interaction between the student and the Headmaster and knew that there were issues between them.

"We'll contact Gringotts about the shares that you wish to buy, Madam." Harry said standing from his seat, obviously ending the meeting form his side.

"It was a pleasure to see you all again." The witch said shaking their hands with a smile. Once the four teenagers left, she turned to Albus and said: "Mess with him and I'll have your ass in jail. Are we clear?"

"Amelia…" The old Headmaster started, but he was cut off.

"Let me repeat, Albus: you mess with him and I'll find a reason to send you to Azkaban. Are we clear?" The Minister said with a threatening tone of voice.

"Clear," the professor said with a nod, as he knew she would do it.

"Have a nice day, Albus," the witch said, dismissing him. The leader of the light sighed, but left without another word. Then she asked Arthur, "Did the twin offer shares to you or your family?"

"Bill and Charlie tried to buy some at the beginning of the summer. Obviously, they wanted to help them with some galleons. That's when we found out about their 'investor.' We had no idea of who it was till a few days ago," the redhead explained her before he added, "And no, Molly still doesn't like or approve the idea of the shop. And she was less thrilled when she found out about Harry giving them the money."

"If that box is just a little part of what they can do, they'll be rich in a few years," Amelia predicted very seriously.

"And only Harry Potter will get a part of that money," Percy said with a sigh. He was really happy to see that the twins could do something productive with their ideas and he also agreed that they would get a lot of money with it, but he disliked the idea of the twins not selling some shares to their relatives.

"He saw a chance when no one else gave a Knut for the twins and took it, Percy. Now, your brothers have every right to say no to everyone else," Arthur told his son with a serious nod.

"Care to enlighten me about what is going on between Albus and Mr. Potter?" The witch asked the patriarch.

Arthur sighed and gave her brief report of what Albus had decided to do with Harry and his 'reasons.' Then he explained about the guards, the incident with the dementors, what had happened the day after they returned from the ministry and what had happened with Severus a few days ago.

"I'll take a risk here, and I'll say that Harry is not too happy with most of the adults of the house. And Albus and Molly are at the top," Arthur said. Then he changed the topic and asked with a smile, "How is Susan dealing with you as the minister?"

"You want the truth, Arthur? She deals with it better than I do," Amelia said with a tired smile.

As both had kids that had the same age, it was very common than they asked about them and how they did at the school: those topics went quite ranged. Amelia always laughed when she heard about what the twins had done. Arthur had asked her more than once for advice about things that had to do with Ginny, as she had experience with dealing with a girl.

"Was it my imagination or Harry and Hermione were closer than usual?" Percy asked suddenly.

"It wasn't. They've been together for about four months. And no one knew about it till a few days ago," Arthur explained his son.

"How did your family take the news? Unless my memory fails, Molly wanted Harry Potter to marry your daughter and she was almost certain that your son Ron would be with Miss Granger," Amelia said with an arched eyebrow.

"She hasn't dropped the idea yet. On the other hand, Ginny seemed to take the news pretty well. And Ron is having more problems dealing with it," Arthur said with a sigh. He checked his watch and said, "I better return to my place before I'm fired for not working."

"See you, Artie." Amelia said with a smile and her friend waved his hand in goodbye.

"Artie?" Percy asked confused, as he had never heard anyone calling his father like that.

"Artie and Amy are nicknames that are older than you, Percy. And they are not used by many people, let me tell you," she explained before adding, "And you father is one of the VERY few that are allowed to call me that."

"How long have you known each other?"

"We worked together during the first war in things that never happened officially. Your father is one of the two people that I would always pick to have watching my back in a life threatening situation," Amelia said before he told Percy VERY seriously, "And you NEVER heard what I just said."

"Confidential information?" The wizard asked as seriously as her, as he tried to hide his shock of what he learned: he never imagined his father doing something dangerous or classified.

"To have something classified, Mr. Weasley, first that thing needs to be acknowledged by someone at my department, the hit wizards and/or the Unspeakables. And we talk about things that none of those departments know at all," The Minister said before asking, "Did I make myself clear on this matter?"

"Who's the other? Dumbledore?" Percy asked with curiosity and nodding to her question.

"Albus Dumbledore only worries about himself in a battle," Amelia said with a snort before saying, "No, Percy, the other person is Alastor Moody. No matter how paranoid he is, that bastard is still the best on the battlefield." Then she changed the topic and said, "Let's get back to work."

… … … …

That night at dinner, Harry and the rest of the group returned to Grimmauld and were immediately assaulted by Molly, who demanded to know where they had been and gave them the usual rant.

"Gentlemen, have nice dreams. I'll go to bed now." Harry said to the twins, and practicing his new favorite sport: ignore the adults. Then he asked Hermione: "Will you share my bed tonight, milady?"

"I'm having my period. Sharing a bed would be rather uncomfortable," Hermione said with a shake of her head.

"Oh, yes, I agree with that. I still remember your last period during the school year," Harry said with a sigh, before he explained the twins, "It was two days before the last task. I don't know who was more nervous: her or me."

"I was very emotional and you were about to face something really bad. Excuse me if I was nervous!" Hermione said, slapping his arm.

"I still thank Merlin that men don't have PMS. Can you imagine Oliver with it?" Harry asked the twins with a mental shrug.

"We would have quit after the first month!" The redheads exclaimed at the same time. The practices when one of the Chasers had her period could be nasty sometimes. But if the old captain had it, no one would have survived!

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked curious, as everyone else joined.

"They were thanking Merlin that men don't suffer PMS or have to deal with a period," Hermione explained with a smile.

"They thinking of anyone in particular?" Ginny asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Oliver Wood!" The trio said at the same time.

"Thanks Merlin for the little miracles of the human biology," Minerva said, as she agreed that Wood with it would have been worse than what he already was.

"Amen!" The three Quidditch players chorused.

"Where is Sirius?" Bill asked the teens.

"He had to stay at the ministry as his trial is tomorrow," Harry said before he asked Remus, "Did he really go out with Amelia Bones and leave her house without saying goodbye after spending the night with her?"

"That bastard didn't tell me about her!" Remus shouted angrily. Then he told Harry, "He used to do that A LOT. The list of women that hated him was very large. And the list of husbands/fathers/brothers was even larger."

"That's enough information for my innocent brain!" Harry shouted and covered his ears.

"Did he leave any girl pregnant?" Tonks asked Remus.

"Thankfully, he learnt the wonders of the Muggle condoms on our fourth year. He always had two or three packs of them wherever he went," Remus said with a smile.

"How many of them did he use? Hermione asked curious.

"During a bad week, he used between eight and ten packs. During a good week, only Merlin knows," the werewolf said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That is the kind of thing that someone should never learn about godparents," Harry muttered to himself, as Arthur arrived at that moment.

"The minister is not angry with them, is she?" Hermione asked him very seriously, pointing to the twins.

"Percy looked ready to pass out, but Amelia accepted the decision as she considered it as they had every right to do business as they wanted," the redhead said with a smile.

"You decided to not do business with her?" Charlie asked the twins, with a bit of shock on his voice.

"Only Harry will be allowed to have shares in the shop," The two pranksters said very seriously.

"I was the only one that had faith in the shop," the teen said seriously.

"No, you were the only one brave enough to go against her," Bill said with a smile and pointing to his mom.

"Yeah, brave or stupid," Charlie said with a smile.

"I'm a Gryffindor. What can you expect from me?" The teen said with a wide smile.

"So what happened with the other business?" Remus asked suddenly.

"We have the job," Hermione announced with a smile.

"Which job?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"The restoration of the MOM!" The teens announced and they showed them the official papers that made them the company in charge of the task.

"And we sell shares in this company," Harry announced with a smile. Then they handed a parchment to each in which it was described the prices and the profits that each buyer would get. He also explained that no one besides him would have voice or vote in any decision.

"How did you get the money? Something like this is not cheap," Molly asked, looking at him with suspicion.

"I remembered certain body that I had in a closet. One that gave me LOTS of profit," Harry said with a secretive smile.

"Are we talking about the same body of the same closet?" Ginny asked, as her eyes went wide as she made the connections. A moment later, Ron realized it too.

Yes, THAT BODY," Harry said with a smile, as he gave out two paychecks: one for Ron and one for her. He explained, "I decided to share some of those galleons with both who were part of that… incident."

"HOLLY MERLIN'S BALLS!" Ron exclaimed as he saw the number. His sister fainted when she did it.

"Now, Ronnie, you won't complain about lack of money!" Harry said laughing, as he woke Ginny.

"Let me see that!" Molly demanded to their kids.

"HELL IF YOU WILL GET THE HANDS ON THIS!" Ginny shrieked and taking her wand, ready to defend her possession.

"How much?" Bill asked Harry as his mom and sister started to shout at each other. Harry wrote a number on a piece of paper and showed it to him. His eyes went wide and asked, "What did you sell?"

"It's the carcass of the basilisk that I killed in my second year," Harry said with an innocent smile.

"How much did you get for it?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"I got enough money to open the company and make sure that they and the victims of the beast still got a lot of galleons." The teen said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Harry, can I marry you?" Ginny asked with a sweet smile.

"Sorry, Ginny, but he is mine," Hermione said with a smile and showed an engagement ring.

"Crap!" The redhead said with a disappointed voice, before she hugged her best friend and said, "Congratulations!"

"We got engaged today," Harry informed everyone, as they congratulated them.

"You broke the Potter tradition of getting married to redheads!" Remus said laughing and hugging both.

"I can always dye my hair!" Hermione said with a smile and everyone laughed.

"Are we ok?" Harry asked to Ron in a whisper. He suspected that the redhead wanted to be with Hermione, but never had the courage to ask her. Now he worried that he felt betrayed and they would have a fight like last year.

"It'll take me a while to get used to both of you together, but we will sooner or later," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he hugged and congratulated his best friend, before telling him very seriously, "I DEMAND to be the best man of the wedding!"

"Deal!" Harry said laughing and returning the hug. Then she told Ginny and Ron, "Don't worry about the money. The galleons are already in a vault to which no one else than you can access. It's a security measure that I considered necessary."

"I wonder why," Tonks muttered to Remus as Molly continued shouting and demanding to see the paychecks.

"In absence of Sirius, who's in charge of the house?" Harry asked Remus seriously.

"It would be Dumbledore as the leader of the order. But with the order disbanded, it would be you as he would probably choose you as the heir," the werewolf said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Good," the teen said with a nod before he turned to Molly and told her, "You have five minutes to leave the House. I'm banning your entrance from this moment."

"WHAT?" Molly shrieked furiously.

"I'm fed up of you and your shouting! So, as the temporary owner of the house till my godfather returns, I have decided that you are not welcome here," the teen said seriously and, checking his watch, added, "The five minutes are running so I would hurry up."

"You cannot be serious!" The matriarch shouted.

"Raise the hand who wants her out of the House," Harry asked the rest of the order. Except for Arthur, everyone else did it, and that included her five children. Then the teen said with a smile, "The prosecution rests its case." Without another word, he left the room and went to his dorm.

"We want peace!" Remus said seriously, before he added, "The time is running, so hurry up."

"We want to have the chance to be able to celebrate You-know-who's death and you seem to be the only one that is not interested on it," Bill said seriously.

"You seem to want to make sure that we never got any chance to do anything here and later claim that we have no experience! But YOU make sure of that!" The twins shouted at her, before both went to their dorms.

"Sorry, Mum, but you do the impossible to make sure that we are not happy and that's what we want!" Ginny said, before she and Ron left too.

"Molly, I think that you should leave now," Shacklebolt suggested very seriously.

Molly looked as if ready to cry, as she was told the truth that she never wanted to see or to admit to herself. She went to the fireplace and returned home without another word.

"I'm sure that I don't have to ask this, but make sure that the kids are ok," Arthur told to Remus, who nodded.

"Now, how do we get rid of Albus?" Moody asked with sarcasm to Remus and the others.

"We leave it to Sirius," Remus said shrugging his shoulders.

… … … …

Sirius' trial was very short, as it consisted only in his questioning under veritaserum about the events prior to Halloween of 1981. After that, he was granted the official pardon and declared a free man.

A couple of hours later, he met Amelia, Arthur, Tonks and Percy at her office. After he sat, he put a large folder over her desk and sighed deeply.

"Are they what I think?" Amelia asked with an amused tone of voice.

"Yes, they are marriage contracts," the marauder said with a snort.

"Aren't you a bit old to get married on this way, Sirius?" Arthur asked with a smile.

"Not even dead, I'll get married through a contract!" Sirius shouted to both, before he added: "They are for Harry!"

"Are you kidding me?" Bones asked, opening the folder and checking them. He was right: they were marriage proposal contracts for the teen. Some of them had pictures and she looked at some with wide eyes. She closed it immediately.

"You won't think in…?" Percy asked seriously. He doubted that Harry would like the idea of getting married just to continue with the old traditions.

"He threatened to cut my balls if I messed with his relationship with Hermione, Percy! Do you think that I'll take a risk and tell him about this?" Sirius asked with sarcasm.

"Well, then I guess that his engagement came at the best moment," Arthur said with a smile, before he told them the news.

"Sorry to tell you this, Sirius, but your godson seems to have more brains than you." Amelia said with a smile. Then she said, "I was surprised not to see him today."

"They asked me to see how the things with the media were. If they were calm, he would come. As you saw, they were looking for him and he decided that his presence was not necessary," Tonks explained them. Then she asked Arthur, "How is Molly?"

"She is reevaluating everything. So far, she's a bit sad, depressed, angry, feeling betrayed," Arthur said sadly, before they explained what had happened the previous night at the house.

"I told her to not bother him!" Sirius shouted furious.

"You know her, Sirius. She thought that she did the best for everyone," Arthur said with a new sigh.

"How much money did he give them?" Amelia asked suddenly and changing the topic, before the argument got heated.

"Harry showed Bill a piece of paper and he told that the cipher written there had six numbers. But he didn't tell which the first one was," Tonks said to everyone.

"That's a lot of money," Percy said with a whistle.

"Hell if it is!" Amelia muttered, as she knew that the sale of a basilisk could mean a few million galleons! Then she asked with a smile, "Is he interested in making a donation?"

"Ami, are you asking for a bribe?" Sirius asked with an amused tone of voice.

"No, but I wouldn't mind if he feels generous and shares his money! Merlin knows that we need a bit of it!" the minister said laughing.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he makes some donations. But I doubt that any of them will be to the ministry," Tonks said seriously.

"Is he still angry with Dumbledore?" Amelia asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, he stabbed the headmaster on his hand when the old man tried to grab his arm and to talk to him. So, I would say that yes, he's still angry," the auror said remembering the incident of that morning. Then she told her cousin, "They want to ban Dumbledore from the house too. Once more, the voting was everyone in favor and no one against. They want to know if they can count on your support, too."

"Are we talking about the same house? You mean to tell me that I'm gone for a day and Harry goes to the war with everyone?" Sirius asked her with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, it's the same house, with the same people, paintings and elf that you left yesterday. There were some… incidents. But it was nothing to worry too much about," Tonks said with a smile.

In that moment, the door was blasted and Harry came in a second later. To say that the teen looked unhappy would be the century's understatement. He looked around till he saw his godfather and smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"Sirius, tell me: didn't I tell you anything about messing with my love life?" The teen asked, pointing his wand dangerously to the marauder's jewels.

"You said that I would suffer castration," Sirius said with a gulp. The rest of the adults gave them a LOT of space, not wanting to be in the middle of this.

"Then explain me this, because I'm very curious," Harry said handing him several letters, before adding, "And if you think I'm angry, wait till you see Hermione."

Sirius took the letters and checked them: they were marriage contracts between the teen and girls of several pureblood families. Some of them invoked ancient laws that had been around for centuries while others invoked former alliances between the Potters and their families. Others said that the contracts had been signed and confirmed by Sirius himself.

"Oh, there are other ones," Harry said opening the folder and reading more contracts. Then she saw some of the pictures and asked Amelia, "Your niece is not on the list, is she?"

"No, she is not. I don't believe in those contracts," the minister said seriously.

"Fix this before you return home, or I leave you alone with my fiancée. And when she's done, you'll wish that I had castrated you," Harry told Sirius before he nodded to Amelia and left.

"I better start dealing with this at this moment," the marauder said before he left the room. As soon as he was out, Tonks burst out in laughter while the others chuckled: this was going to be so fun!

… … … …

When Sirius returned home, it was well past midnight and he tried to make no noise. He didn't want anyone to know that he was back.

"Hem-hem," someone said, clearing the throat and he turned to see his Godson and his girlfriend. The marauder paled as both aimed their wands to his low zone.

"Sirius, I'm sure that you can explain this, right?" Hermione asked with a sweet smile.

"I'm working on it, ok? It seems that someone promised Harry as a gift to some people and now I have to clean the mess," Sirius said with a sigh, as Remus joined them.

"As a gift in exchange of what?" The three asked with arched eyebrows.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the former fugitive said, rubbing his eyes. He knew of at least six families that received that promise, but none of them could explain him what they would give.

"And who could make that offer?" Hermione asked, even if she was sure of whom it was.

"You have three chances to guess, but probably you won't need the last two," Sirius said with a sarcastic smile.

"What do we do now? Were any of those contracts signed?" Harry asked seriously.

"No, but they are pressing a lot to do that," his godfather said. Then he added, "But with your emancipation, the game changes a lot. As you are your own guardian, no one can sign one of those contracts in your name any longer."

"I guess that we have to be thankful for those small miracles," the teen said with sarcasm.

"So what do we do now?" Remus asked seriously.

"You leave that to me. I think that it's time that I met with Dumbledore," Harry said before he left to go to bed. The other three looked at each other and wondered he had on mind.

… … … …

The next morning, Dumbledore was at his office meeting with Minerva and discussing the postulants for the post of potions professor when Harry entered and sat in front of him.

"Mr. Potter, what a surprise to see you," Minerva said with a smile, that her student returned.

"Likewise, Professor," Harry said before he added, "And by the way, congratulations."

"Congratulations for what?" The two professors asked at the same time.

"For being named the Headmistress of this school, of course. I came to talk to the Headmaster as soon as I heard that he would be retiring," the teen said with a smile, before he handed a folder to Dumbledore. The aged wizard arched an eyebrow and opened it to read it. He closed it immediately and was paler than a ghost. Harry said very seriously, "You choose: you step down with all the glory or I start to send that to everyone. And Madam Bones and the Prophet are the first to get the copy. You have 24 hours to make a choice." With a nod to his head of house and without another word, he left the office.

Minerva looked at her old friend and saw him still very pale. She had no idea of what the folder had on t, but it was not good for Albus. And she felt that it wasn't good at all.

… … … …

The next morning, the Daily Prophet had a big title on its front page: 'Albus Dumbledore retires'. In the article, it said that the aged wizard took the decision based on health matters and his advanced age.

'It's time to leave my place to younger people,' Albus was quoted as saying.

"I never expected that," Harry commented to his friends, faking a sad face with the news.

"I'm sure of that," Remus muttered to Sirius, a lot of sarcasm on his voice.

His friend made efforts to keep his face straight and to fake his sadness, too. Both were sure that Harry's meeting was what led to Dumbledore's retirement, but they knew better than to ask.

In that moment, Minerva arrived with the school's letters and gave them to the teenagers. Then she took another parchment and gave a copy to Bill and one to Remus.

"Which of you will join the School's staff as Professor of DADA?" Minerva asked both men with a smile.

"I'm not interested, thanks!" The eldest redhead said with a shake of his head.

"No way!" Remus said very seriously and giving back the parchment.

"Why not?" The Professor asked both.

"Because: a) the post is cursed; b) I already have a job; and c) I love that job a lot and prefer to deal it with and not with hormonal teenagers," Bill said seriously.

"You forgot the most important one, Bill," Remus said before he explained: "As Albus retired, Minerva will take the position of headmistress and that will mean that she cannot be head of house." Then he told Minerva, "To Bill's reasons, I add: d) I don't want to be head of a house. Even, if it is my old house."

"I can do it," Sirius said suddenly.

"I'm looking for someone responsible, Mr. Black. And you ARE NOT one," Minerva said very seriously.

"I can do it," Harry said before his Sirius answered. Then he asked with sarcasm, "Or do you not consider me as someone responsible?"

"Is this a joke, Mr. Potter?" The professor asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No, it is not. I learned a lot last year while I prepared for the three tasks. And if you have in mind who taught DADA for the last few years, I cannot be that bad," the teen said before he told Remus, "No offense, Professor."

"What would you teach them?" Minerva asked curiously, as Remus said that he wasn't offended at all.

"Shields, offensive and defensive spell for duels, stunners," Harry said listing a few of the spells that he had learnt last year. Then he added, "I could also teach them the Patronus to the oldest students."

"Are you seriously considering it?" Remus asked Minerva with an arched eyebrow, as he noticed that his former professor looked at the teen with a calculating eye.

"If you do it, you wouldn't be able to play quidditch, you know?"

"But I can train whoever replaces me. Or is there a rule against that?" Harry asked with a smile. Then he continued, "And for lesson plans, I can get Remus' old ones and adapt them to me." Then he asked the werewolf, "You won't mind that, will you?"

"I'll have to look for them," the old man said with a nod.

"I'll think about it. In the meantime, make a list of what you would teach to each year and plans for each month," Minerva said after thinking the matter for a few moments. Then she asked his letter and took the Prefect's badge that was inside, "I'll keep this till we work this out. If you join the staff, I'll hand it to someone else. If not, I'll return it to you."

"At least, thanks for giving me the chance," Harry said with a serious nod.

"Right now, I have nothing to lose. It won't hurt me to see what you can plan," Minerva said with a smile, before adding, "Or should I say what Miss Granger can plan for you and your classes?"

Everyone laughed with that and Minerva left with a last nod to everyone. Although he wasn't her first choice, she wanted to see what he had in mind. It wouldn't hurt her to do so, would it?

"Would you really quit playing quidditch?" Ron asked him, as if that idea resulted incredibly unbelievable for him.

"Quidditch is fun, but I don't think about it as my future," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. When Ron was about to argue, he asked Charlie, "Did you consider playing it professionally while at school?"

"Not at all. Quidditch was nice but I didn't see it as a career," the redhead said as serious as him.

"I rest my case, Ron," Harry said with a smile, before he told Hermione, "We start working on those plans AFTER your period is over."

"Why not before?" Everyone asked with an arched eyebrow, as the brunette blushed.

"Hermione always has it in the week before the exams and drive us insane with the study sessions. So I won't start to them while she's very emotional and her hormones are high," Harry said with a smile.

"You are a prat," Hermione said and slapped his arm.

"Yes, but you love me," He said and kissed her cheek.

… … … …

The first day of September was the day that meant the return of the youngest wizards and witches to the school. As usual, everyone wondered who would teach DADA and if that person would do it for more than that term or would be back for another one.

During the train ride, LOTS of people looked for Harry but were disappointed when they didn't find him. Also, lots of them thought he wouldn't be back as Ron had been chosen as prefect and all of them were sure that it would be the hero that would get the badge.

The other topic of chat at the train was the wedding of Harry and Hermione that had been last week. The ceremony was very private and only their closest friend had been invited: those were the Weasley clan (Molly and Percy included), Minerva, Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Kingsley, Amelia Bones and her niece, Neville and his Grandmother and the three chasers were at it. Ron had been the best man and Ginny one of the bridesmaids. They had sent a few pictures of the ceremony and the party to the Prophet, plus a little note about the event.

When the students arrived at school and took seats at the tables, they saw Harry, but he wasn't at his usual spot at Gryffindor's table. No, he was sat at the high table between Hagrid and the spot that Flitwick would take after the sorting, talking with the COMC Professor.

Harry and Hermione had made the lesson plans, using Remus' old ones and suggestions from the werewolf, Bill and the two aurors that were in the order. With the former teacher and the curse-breaker, they worked mainly on the plans for the first four years. With Shacklebolt and Tonks, they focused on the oldest students.

When they presented them to Minerva, the headmistress checked them with Filius, who was now the deputy. Harry then had an idea and asked the charms professor for a chat later. The other three occupants of the office looked at the teen with arched eyebrows, but he didn't elaborate.

"It's just a bit of a crazy idea I just had. I want to see if it is something possible," Harry said with a smile.

Everyone's questions about what he was doing there, died as the first years arrived and the sorting started. This year, the list was a bit larger than usual: 45 students, most of them were muggleborn. Gryffindor got most of them: 18. Ravenclaw got ten. Hufflepuff got ten and Slytherin ended up with seven.

"I think that the dorms at Gryffindor will have to be enlarged," Harry commented to Flitwick as he took his seat and the feast started.

"It looks like the case," the charms teacher said with a smile.

When the feast ended, Minerva stood to make the announcements. The first one was the retirement of Albus and she being named the headmistress of the school with Flitwick as her second.

"I'm sure that all of you are wondering why Mr. Potter is sitting here and not at his table," Minerva said and she continued, "The reason is that Mr. Potter will be the DADA Professor this year…"

"And let's cross our fingers that I survive to do it for a second term," the teen muttered loud enough to everyone hear it. Everyone laughed at that, and Minerva had to suppress a smile. Then he said, "I'm sorry for interrupting you, Professor."

"I'm sure you are. But let me remind you, Mr. Potter, that as Head of Gryffindor, you have to set a good example," McGonagall said with a smile, shocking everyone, Harry included.

"That wasn't in the contract! I agreed to teach, not to be head of house!" The teen shouted, before asking with sarcasm, "Do you want me to remind you why I applied for this job?"

"Yes, because my first choices disagreed with that part," The stern witch said with a nod before asking with a smile, "Do you want me remind you who wanted to apply before you did?"

"Ok, you win," Harry said with a tone of defeat. He agreed with her: Sirius would be a VERY bad choice for head of house. Then he told Flitwick, who looked at them confused, "Before I suggested my name, Sirius did it. Now can you imagine him in charge of a house?"

"Who were the first choices?" Filius asked curious, as he agreed too, while Minerva continued with her announcements.

"They were Remus Lupin and Bill Weasley. But both sent her to hell with the idea," the teen said with a shrug of his shoulders, while the students were sent to the towers, and he followed them. He had to introduce himself on his new position after all.

Once in the tower, he ordered everyone to sit before he started to speak. He introduced himself to the first years, told them how he ended up with the original job of professor, and talked about the rules, how they were supposed to address him and a few other things, before he asked,

"Are there any questions?" He regretted that immediately, as 90 percent of the house raised their hands. He pointed to a third year girl to be the first to ask.

"Is it true that she used a love Potion?" The girl asked pointing to Hermione.

"This will take a while," the hero muttered to himself and started to answer questions. In a corner of the common room, he saw Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Ron, the twins and the chasers eating popcorn and watching him with a very amused look. They were really going to enjoy this.

… … … …

Epilogue, September 1st, 2007

Harry Potter took his usual spot at the high table next to his wife, Hermione Granger, as both looked at the first years. Immediately they spotted a special one: James Dan Potter, their eldest son. The boy was talking in whispers with a redhead and both were laughing quietly as the group waited for the sorting to begin. When he noticed his parents' look at him, he smiled to both and returned to his chat.

Harry HAD survived to his first year of teaching and continued as head of house till that day. His class was the most favorite one of all the students of the four houses, as he held no grudge against anyone there.

After his first year as teacher, he had set to talk to the head of the aurors and made the plans for the oldest students with him, Tonks and Shacklebolt. Since then, all the new aurors were better trained for the academy and the job in enforcement. His plans were updated every year and no one knew what he had in mind for them till they had his class.

He also started to work with Flitwick to use what the first years learned in charms and to use it in his classroom at least once a month. The first years, used to never having the chance to do too much magic outside of charms and transfigurations, loved those classes and usually asked for more of them.

"Wait till next year. Then, the things won't be so nice," he always said.

The students learned that he never lied, as in their second year, the things got more advanced and sometimes, they missed those classes. But that never made them stop of considering DADA as their favorite subject

Hermione became the arithmancy professor right after she graduated from the school with the highest scores in two centuries. Minerva wasted no time and contracted her as soon as the former teacher of that subject announced her retirement.

She got pregnant with James (or JD as everyone called him), on their last year and he was born right after she finished her last exam.

Harry was examining the fourth years in that moment and ran to her side and left the students alone, but not before he shouted them, "EVERYONE PASSED THE EXAM!"

Minerva heard about the incident and smiled with it: actually, the exam hadn't started yet and it was over before it began. Someone from the Board of Examiners wanted to have the exam taken by some other teacher, but no one supported that idea.

"His wife was about to give birth to his first son and you expected him to take an exam?" Amelia asked them, when she heard the incident and went to congratulate the parents and to meet the baby. She was still the minister and kept her friendship with both teens.

JD was the oldest, but not their only child: they had a pair of twins that were seven years old in that moment. Lily Emma and Alex Nicholas lived in Grimmauld with the rest of the Weasley clan during the day and went to Hogwarts to be with their parents every night. As head of house, Harry had to stay at the school all the nights, so they couldn't live out of the castle.

Ron abandoned his dreams of quidditch playing and became an auror. He was still single, but he was in a relationship with a ministry worker called Jean. She was a single mom of a kid of five years old, and Ron loved the kid as his own. His family had started to accept him as another nephew too. And even if they were not married, Jean was just another in-law of the family.

Ginny married Neville and had three children: Mark that was eight, Cassie that was six and the youngest member of the clan, Paula, was born three weeks ago. She became a quidditch player, but dropped her career after her first son was born. Now she worked in the Department of Magical Sports. He joined the school's staff after Sprout retired and now taught herbology.

Bill got married to Fleur and had three children, with ages that went from one to five years old. Both worked in Gringotts in the British branch.

Charlie was still single and worked with dragons in Romania. He only came home to meet his new nieces or nephews. Molly still tried to convince him to return to England permanently, but he had no wishes of doing so.

Percy became Amelia's personal secretary after she fired the old one. He got married to Penelope Clearwater, and was the most prolific one when it came to children: they had five kids, with ages that went from a few months old to seven years old.

The twins got married the same day in a double wedding: Fred with Alicia and George with Angelina. Each of them had twins the same day at the same time. The four kids were now three years old and according to Molly, 'they cause as many troubles as their fathers did at that age.'

Their shop was one of the busiest shops at the alley during the summer and at Hogsmeade during the school year. They kept their word to not add any other shareholder than Harry. Not even their wives got shares of it.

Molly and Harry had started to work out their differences before his wedding and finished doing it after JD was born. While Hermione taught at Hogwarts, the matriarch babysat him and took brought him to his parents every night.

She became the babysitter of all of her grandchildren and also of Remus and Tonks' kids, and she loved being surrounded by the kids as much as the children loved being with her.

Arthur still worked at the Ministry, but now worked with Amelia Bones in the minister's office. He had promised to his wife to get the retirement many times over the years, but no one believed that he would do it soon.

Remus worked on the office for the werewolves and Tonks still worked as an auror, although nowadays she was the deputy of the office. They had two kids: Teddy and James. He was five and she was three years old.

Sirius was still single and no one knew any stable relationship of him. He worked at the ministry in the Department of Magical Sports and was Ginny's boss.

"Potter, James!" Filius called when he reached to the letter 'P'.

"House?" Minerva asked to the two professors. She was still the headmistress and would continue being so till her death probably. She was as strict as always.

"I think that he'll be a Ravenclaw, but Harry thinks that he might be a Gryffindor," Hermione said with a smile. She tired to act normally, but everyone knew that she was nervous and none of them could blame her: after all, it was her son who was about to be sorted!

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat announced to the Hall and the table erupted in cheers.

"You'll live to sort students another year!" JD whispered to the hat, but it was loud enough to everyone to hear it. He winked to his parents and went to sit.

"I won't ask!" Harry said as he burst out in laughter, while his wife and the headmistress looked at him with wide eyes.

"I can't reveal what I talk with a student, Minerva! You should know that!" The hat shouted when the old witch asked about what he and the kid had talked about.

"Who handles his detentions?" Hermione asked her husband, as she had the feeling that her son would get a LOT during his time at the school.

"Neville!" Harry said with a smile and winked to his friend. Filch had been fired years ago, and nowadays, his job was done by elves. The detentions were now handled either by professors or by the students' heads.

"That kid will give headaches to everyone here," Minerva commented to both with a smile.

"What do you expect from a kid with marauder genes?" Harry asked with a smile, before he added, "Remember that in a few years, you'll deal with the twins' twins."

"Hopefully, I won't be here anymore!" McGonagall said seriously. Everyone in the table laughed quietly with that. Then she whispered to Harry, "You better get ready for them. Because when I retire, YOU will be the headmaster."

"Sorry, Minnie, but you got me to be Head of Gryffindor. You won't get me to be the headmaster," Harry said with a smile. He loved the post of head of house too much to leave it and Minerva knew it.

"The time will say who wins this fight, Harry," The headmistress said with a smile.

She had been having this argument for the last two years, and she never got any chance with it. Harry plainly rejected even the idea of being deputy headmaster for the reason that if she left her spot, he would take it and he didn't want it.

"Perhaps when the girls are older, I'll think about it. But with them being so young, I won't consider it. It's hard enough to see them growing being head of house. If I became headmaster, I won't see them a lot," Harry told Minerva once more. And the professor knew that she could never beat that reason. The reason was one: he was right and she knew it.

He turned his attention back to his wife and looked at his son, who was laughing with the redhead that he talked with at the queue before the sorting. He smiled to him and returned to talk to Hermione and Neville about the new school year, the first with his son as student. He wondered what kind of troubles would JD cause and he was sure that they would be a lot.

"You only have one chance to be a child," Harry muttered to himself with a smile and kissed his wife on her cheek.