2,381Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the associated characters.
Summary: See previous chapters.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The celebrations after Voldemort's demise were a bit lacking when the Boy-Who-Lived refused to attend most of the grander parties, as did his family and friends, but the excitement wasn't fully over.
As far as the doctors could tell, Valerie Irons had been conceived some point during the week following the defeat of the Dark Lord.
The announcement was not the best Birthday Present Harry received, though he did not suffer from jealousy. Instead, the cause of his upset was the discovery that his parents had not, in fact, stopped having sex just because they had him. Complaining to his friends had led to a few sympathetic pats on the back, a very forward kiss from Susan, and Dean (who had living proof of the fact in his three younger sisters) telling him to suck it up.
It is a historically proven fact (according to Hermione, who had been reading up on it in between Horcrux research) that in times of great change, you need to move quickly to consolidate your position if you want to have any say in the changes that take place.
Neville, Susan and Harry, all of who came of age that summer, had hereditary places on the Wizengamot, and while no one was sure how Fudge had come to be proxy for the Potter seat, but that stopped right away.
One of the things the Wizengamot did was oversee trials, and few people really wanted to upset the Man-Who-Won (which Harry hated even more that 'the Boy Who Lived'), so there was much less bribery this time, and a lot more examination of evidence, and calling in Mind-Healers to check for residue of the Imperious Curse whenever someone tried to claim that as a defence.
None of the children planned on a life of politics, except possibly Hermione, but they recognized that the world wasn't going to fix itself, and expecting other people to do it for them was what had got the Wizarding World in its current mess to begin with.
What had started as a bit of Home-School, had escalated to a not-quite-school that took place in a magically renovated warehouse, as the student numbers grew.
Finally catching on to the fact that if it kept up, Hogwarts wouldn't have anyone left to teach, and were already becoming a bit of a joke, several frantic School Governors visited to try and figure out what was being done wrong.
Hogwarts was closed for the next year while the Governors reviewed teaching methods and the curriculum, added a few much-needed classes like an introduction to the magical world, and an updated mandatory Muggle Studies (which drastically cut down on the annual number of Obliviations) for first-years.
The teachers had to prove that they actually knew how to teach, and were actually competent in their subject.
Professor Trelawney's wailing gave everyone a two-day headache, Professor Binns didn't even notice when they moved the History of Magic classroom and introduced a new teacher, and Professor Snape was re-introduced to Natasja's skillet when he came to blame the Irons' for his new unemployment.
If it came to Dumbledore as Headmaster of Hogwarts, or a Hogwarts empty of students, the School Governors decided that it was time to take a closer look at the mountains of formal complaints that Snape's classes had inspired, and were not pleased with their findings.
They couldn't just kick Dumbledore out, as their own negligence had played a significant part in the deteriorating quality of education, but they could make sure that the Department of Education actually knew what was going on, and received regular reports, rather than only after the End of Year Exam period to let them know about the marks and which students had responded to their acceptance letters.
It wasn't perfect, but no system is.
Natasja and Henry were not exactly pleased when they found a letter on the table, informing them that Harry and Susan were eloping to Las Vegas so that they could get married without the media circus that would undoubtedly happen if they tried to get married in the UK, but they understood. They settled for telling Hermione, who promptly dragged the original group (plus Anthony, Padma Patil and Hannah, who were dating Hermione, Dean and Neville, respectively) to Vegas after them, then rescuing the nearly-weds and guilting the happy couple into letting them hold a belated reception for family and friends when they returned to England.
It could have been worse, as at least it wasn't the shotgun wedding between Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown that took place later in the year.
It was also one of the very few times that Hermione decided to be willingly spontaneous, though Anthony's promise of a Honeymoon that included a trip to what remained of the Library of Alexandria and the newly-discovered ruins that might have been the original, may have had something to do with it.
Much to several people's disappointment, Harry flatly refused to name any of his children after either set of his parents, an example followed by most of his friends. As the children of the Boy Who Lived, and several other prominent figures from the Second War against Voldemort, as well as the grandchildren of several Heroes of the First War, they would have enough to live up to, without everyone comparing them to the ghost whose name they shared.
He wasn't above using them as middle names, as proven by Sarah Lily, Benjamin Henry and Ryan James, or Hermione's youngest, Beatrice Natasja, but first names were out.
Several of their children did complain about their names, as all people do at some point, but were mostly relieved, as a significant portion of their classmates were named some variant of 'Harry'. Sarah's class had three Harrisons, two Henrys, five Harriettas, two Harolds and eight Harrys.
Finding a tiny boy wandering in the middle of a wintery night, after being abandoned in a basket, sounds like something out of a fairy tale, and in another world the fairy tale would have ended with an epic battle and everything staying the same as they all lived happily ever after.
But Happiness, like all emotions, is a strange and flowing thing, and 'Living Happily Ever After' only works in a bedtime story before the child is old enough to question.
In this story, a family stood together through everything, people trusted their friends and asked questions and accepted help. There were trials, and sorrows, and life wasn't perfect.
But they did live, and they were happy, and that is all that one can reasonably ask for.
THE END
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A/N: This chapter is a bit short, but I was really only tying up loose ends.
Wow, we've finally come to the end. When I posted what was originally meant to be a one-shot only seven or eight months ago, I never thought we'd end up here, with one of my most popular stories. Thank you so much to all the people who have stuck it out so far, nagged me about posting when my inspiration was down, encouraged me, and especially the people who told me when I was doing something wrong.
Thanks and virtual hugs,
Nat