Chapter 1
Chapter one
A couple of months after The Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter bought his first home, a house in Godric’s Hollow. That surprised no one, they all knew that is where Harry would live when the war was over and now he does. He still spent a lot of time at the Burrow with Hermione and Ron and he had started to date Ginny again, not something he was sure about but something Ginny wanted. So, he thought he would see how they would go.
The Order of The Phoenix along with people they trusted were getting the ministry of magic clean out. They realised it wasn’t going to be an easy job and it could take years to find everyone that had supported Voldemort. They found out that he kept some people unmarked so he would always have some supporters inside the ministry. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the new Minister for Magic had organised different order members to take control of each department then to start with trying to work out who was on their side and who had been on Voldemort’s side.
One department which they needed was the auror department, as there was not one auror left. Kingsley did know a few good people from the hit wizards squad, so he had them acting as temporary aurors until Kingsley could work out about finding some people and training them to become aurors. Of course he hoped he could talk Harry Potter and some of his friends into becoming aurors. They have proved capable against dark witches and wizards and weren’t afraid of a fight.
When three months passed, Arthur Weasley went back to the ministry with his son Percy. Arthur was the advisor and assistance to Kingsley, while Percy would work for both of them. Charlie Weasley decided to spend more time in England and ended up helping everyone, from the staff at Hogwarts, to shop keepers even the Minister at the Ministry of Magic. After losing Fred, he said he had missed out on so much time, he was determined to be with his family for a while yet.
Bill Weasley had gone back to Gringotts, but he was beside himself with happiness because his wife is expecting their first child. George Weasley, with the help of Ron Weasley and two of his friends, Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson, they had started to get the shop Weasley Wizard Wheezes fixed and ready to open again. They knew it was still going to take a while before it could finally open the doors to the public.
Lots of shops in Diagon Alley needed repairing or rebuilding and all needed restocking, but everyone seemed to want to help. Strangers would just turn up and offer their assistance, so every shop was slowly coming back. Mr. Ollivander took a long time to get over everything Voldemort put him through, but even while he recuperated, he was slowly getting his shop ready as well, and like the others, people stopped by to help. One person that turned up to help in the wand shop was Luna Lovegood, who spent her days in the shop helping the old man that had become her friend when they were both prisoners.
The death eaters that were captured all awaited trials. But there were some they weren’t sure about. They weren't sure if they were forced or cursed so they were kept in the dungeon cells at the ministry until the minister could get people to form a new Wizengamot. The ones they knew were full death eaters and supporters of Voldemort and had the dark mark were sent straight to Azkaban without a trial. They had found out that to become a death eater and take the mark, you had to do it willingly then torture and kill and innocent, usually a muggle or muggleborn child. So everyone knew they were guilty if they had the dark mark on their arm which is why none of them were given a trial.
Two people in the cells at the ministry were Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. They were there and not Azkaban due to a statement Harry had given the minister in regards to their assistance during the war. So even though Kingsley knew they had helped, they still needed to face the court and Harry would be one of their main witnesses in that trial. Narcissa Malfoy did not have the dark mark and when questioned under veritaserum she told them at the time that the dark lord did not need the wives to take the mark, the husband would control the family in all ways. Draco had the mark but it wasn’t like the original death eaters, he did not have to torture or kill. He did not even want the mark which again was proven under the truth potion. But as he was still underage, his father forced him to take the dark mark and join the death eaters. Again because he was underage at the time, they knew he would not do any time in Azkaban.
All the funeral were finally over, after weeks of still finding bodies, the people they lost were sixty seven. They knew that considering he had hundreds of followers including giants, werewolves and dementors, they came out of the war better than they hoped. The sixty seven people died while fighting for the light. The numbers for the dark that died was a lot higher, well over two hundred.
The new Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall, with the help of her staff had started to get the repairs to the castle underway. Just like the shops, people kept turning up to help because all of them said they wanted their school back and they all had good memories of the old castle. So during the day, there were sometimes a couple of hundred people, all ages working around Hogwarts.
During this time, Hermione and Ron had made a trip to Australia and restored Hermione’s parent’s memories. The Granger's had decided they liked Australia and wanted to stay. So Hermione decided that even though she would miss them, she wanted to live and work in England. So they worked out that Hermione and her parents would each make one or two trips every year back and forth to see each other. The Weasley’s wanted Hermione to stay with them, which she agreed as she wanted to be with Ron. But of course, the two friends spent a lot of time at Harry’s place.
All Harry did after he finished furnishing his home, was rest. He never really did anything, just sat outside in the sun, thinking about everything that had happened over the last seventeen years. Because Harry liked to spend time at home and not go out anywhere, that had caused a loud argument between him and Ginny who wanted to go out with her boyfriend, especially now she was of age. She just couldn’t understand that Harry wasn’t one to go out to pubs or clubs, he was content to stay home.
One thing Harry was happy about, he never had to see the Dursley’s again. He did check in with Hestia Jones and Dedilus Diggle to make sure they were alright. Vernon and Petunia were still the same and the two order members told Harry there were times they wanted to curse them, but didn’t. Dudley always talked to the witch and wizard and always about his cousin Harry. So they finally told the boy exactly how Harry was treated and respected by their world. During their time away, they did listen to Potter-watch, and Dudley got to hear about his cousin quite a bit and realised the two magical people were right, Harry was loved and respected, by everyone. Dedilus and Hestia past on a message from Dudley to Harry, so Harry decided he would see his cousin. It would not be a lot, but they would keep in touch through Mrs. Figg. She had agreed to pass on letters to both young men.
During this time, Harry and Ginny spent time together, not a lot, in Ginny’s opinion, and even with her always asking Harry to go out he kept the relationship casual. At first, Ginny wanted a full on serious relationship, where Harry wanted to take things slow because they got together in the worst time possible, a war. They had a big argument with both shouting at each other, but Harry never backed down. Ginny realised if she wanted Harry, she would have no choice but to agree to his terms, again. She never gave up and tried everything with Harry, even to get them to have sex now Ginny was of age, but again Harry refused, he was determined to take things slow.
Harry had said they were only going to see each other a couple of days a week, either at his home or the Burrow. Ginny had yelled and almost hex Harry at this news until her father stepped between them. Harry explained that he just wanted time to himself for the first time in his life and the last thing he wanted was anything serious. He didn’t tell Ginny that he wasn’t sure this relationship was right for him. But he was truthful about wanting to relax and just take time to enjoy the fact that Voldemort was dead and will never come after him again. So that’s what Harry Potter did, he relaxed at his home, his home in Godric’s Hollow, where he had his last home with his parents.
Six months had passed since the fall of Voldemort and his supporters and even though there were still some supporters out there, they weren’t death eaters. The weather was turning cold, the shops were slowly opening, Hogwarts was starting to look like a castle instead of just ruins. Even though it still had a long way to go, everyone could see the old school coming back to life, but even with the weather, people still turned up to help wherever they could. No one wanted to stop helping until Hogwarts looked like it always did.
Everyone in the wizarding world was finally moving on. There were more pregnancy’s now than there had been in the last thirty years. The healers at St Mungo’s were overrun with the amount of pregnant patients they had. The same thing happen when Voldemort first disappeared, but this time it was a lot more because this time they knew Voldemort was dead, this time many people saw his dead body. The people that worked at the magical world’s hospital had been hearing their patients talk about names. Many boys were about to be called Harry, after Harry Potter, but other names were mentioned. James, for James Potter, Lily, after Lily Potter, but even names such as Albus and Sirius were talked about. Some people even said they may name their children after people from the DA, Neville, Hermione, Ron and many others.
Harry arrived at the Burrow ready for his Sunday breakfast with the family. They had gotten into a routine of doing this, which included Hermione, so they spent every Sunday together. Charlie missed these Sunday morning breakfasts as he just couldn’t stop helping. Every morning, Charlie left for Hogwarts, the ministry or Diagon Alley. Harry hadn’t seen him since before his birthday as Harry liked his solitude of his home and Charlie was off helping wherever he could. But the rest of the Weasley’s were always together every Sunday.
‘Morning,’ Harry kissed Mrs. Weasley’s cheek then shook Mr. Weasley’s hand before sitting down next to Hermione.
‘Morning Harry,’ both replied.
‘Morning,’ Hermione kissed Harry’s cheek as Mrs. Weasley put a cup of tea in front of Harry.
‘So how’s the quiet life Harry?’ Arthur asked.
‘Perfect and I never realised just how tired I was. Not just physically, but mentally. So these last few months have been great, just relaxing my body and mind.’
‘We all realised the same thing, you don’t think about how stressed you are until it’s over.’
‘It’s true Mr. Weasley, I realised the same thing,’ Hermione said, ‘So are you making any plans Harry?’
Harry laughed, ‘Starting to think about them Hermione. Normally I know I’m the rash and impulsive one and you’re the one that takes her time. But I think all of us have needed these few months. Now I know I still want to be an auror to keep protecting our world. I really believe it’s what I’m meant to do, it’s what I was born to do. Does that make any sense to you?’
Hermione chuckled, ‘Yes, because I know you and you have a natural tendency to protect, sometimes even people you don’t like. You’re fair and would never intentionally hurt anyone, so I could see you becoming a great auror Harry.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Kingsley said as he stepped into the kitchen, ‘Sorry to intrude Molly, Arthur, but I really needed to speak with Harry and Ron, Hermione as well. But I don’t think she will very receptive to my idea.’
‘Sit and have a cup of tea Kingsley. Ron’s not awake yet,’ Arthur said.
‘So what’s this idea Kingsley?’ Harry asked.
‘Well as you know there are no aurors and we need them. So I was hoping you, Ron, Hermione and a few of your DA would consider letting me train you. There are a few others I have approached, one wants to do it, the others aren’t sure so their thinking about it.’
‘Well I was just saying I know I want to be an auror, I think that is what I’m meant to do, so I’m in.’
‘Sorry Kingsley, even though I know how good aurors are and they do good for our world, it’s not really something I ever wanted.’
‘I didn’t think you would Hermione, so I was expecting your rejection. What about Ron, do you think he will?’
‘When he finishes helping George, yeah, he will. He said he wants to be an auror he just wanted to wait until George had the shop up and running and got more staff.’
‘Great, so if he needs more time, that’s fine. Now, who else from the DA might consider being an auror?’
‘Well Seamus might, Dean, no I think he wants to try and play quidditch like Ginny, she won’t. Maybe both if not one of the Patil twins, Terry might, Cho might, Ernie and Michael did speak about the aurors so those two are a good chance. It’s really hard to say, they are all good fighters and they did follow my orders in the DA and Neville’s when they were hiding in the room of requirement. Oh Neville won’t, even though he really surprised everyone, he’s not the fighter type.’
‘Well if I contact them all, we can work on a meeting somewhere.’
‘My place is fine, a lot of them have been there before, so it works.’ Harry said.
‘Great, now I just need a list of everyone so I can contact them.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Hermione got up and grabbed some parchment, ink and a quill and wrote the names of the DA down then handed it to Kingsley, ‘I left off a couple, like Zachariah Smith and Marietta Edgecombe, but the rest stayed to fight that night. I left off Dennis and Nigel as well, there too young.’
‘We were all too young Hermione,’ Harry grinned.
‘True, but we’re not now, they are.’
‘I know, so don’t get your wand in a knot. So any idea when those trials are going to start?’
‘They won’t be long now, we’re starting with the people in the holding cells at the ministry as their not that dangerous or dangerous at all. The others are all at Azkaban, so there locked up for good so it’s up safe. So even though we know they don’t have the dark mark, they did anything he ordered. It’s mostly all the snatchers, the death eaters will remain in Azkaban. They were questioned under veritaserum so we don’t need to give them a trial. The snatchers, we know some of them were forced, their families were threatened, so we just need to go through everything when they have their trials.’
‘So the Malfoy’s will be one of the first?’
‘Yes, I think they will both get released on probation, with restrictions as well. I won’t know for certain until the trial.’
‘Hey,’ Ron mumbled as he sat down.
‘He’s not a morning person Kingsley, not until he eats anyway.’ Harry said as he smiled at his friend.
‘Which you can all do now,’ Molly said as she floated food to the table, ‘Help yourselves, you too Kingsley.’
‘I’m fine, I’ve already eaten, but I will have another cup of tea.’
‘So eat up Ron, Kingsley needs to talk to you and you have to be awake,’ Harry chuckled.
Ron grumbled but started eating, making everyone laugh because that was Ron. You just couldn’t get any sense out of him until he had a full stomach.
As soon as Harry was done, he stood, ‘I won’t be long,’ and he hurried up the stairs to use the bathroom while Kingsley explained to Ron what he’s idea was.
After using the bathroom, Harry walked slowly down the stairs, he stopped at the landing when he spotted Charlie. Then with an almighty roar, Harry sprung over the railing and pinned Charlie to the wall as Harry’s clothes ripped from his body as it started to change and wrapped itself around Charlie’s body. Everyone in the kitchen jumped to their feet staring in shock at what had just happened and what was still happening even if they had no idea what was going on. Harry had changed to become a dragon and for some reason he had gone after Charlie. Molly was frantic, Ron wanted to help but didn’t know what to do. Hermione was trying to figure out when Harry learned to become an animagus but Kingsley was the only person who realised exactly what was happening.