-Astronomy Tower
"So, everything good?" Christian asked as our trio finished up, letting me catch my breath a little as we looked down at the celebrating courtyard with fond smiles.
I had just pulled off my largest piece of magic yet after all, I needed a breather before heading down into the frenzy.
"Yeah. Just got a notice from Gunn and our awesome Minster that they've started taking in all those still alive and as we can see, the fight in the courtyard is done." I proudly answered.
I knew full well that there would be at least some casualties, either full or just injured, but today had been a tremendous victory.
"Then I do believe we have some wonderful ladies to inform, then receiving punishments from, followed by much making up to." James knowingly pointed out as we all knew having our love interests out of harms way was still going to bite us in the arse somehow, but we would take it like men.
I already had a very nice magical cruise through the Kunlun mountains and ancient rivers of China set up to visit their magical communities as a family.
Luxurious, high class, with plenty of opportunities to learn about a completely different medical system. Perfect for a certain Noble healer.
I wasn't a fool to not prepare something like this after all.
"I'm just glad it's over." Christian sighed before smiling dopily. "Now I can finally propose to Luna properly."
"Atta boy! Good thing you didn't say anything about it during or before the battle or you'd be dead too!" I jokingly cheered as I thought about those movie clichés.
"Ha! I know right? Did it on purpose." My wild friend grinned.
"Then let us go. I too wish to return to my lady." James smoothly urged as we began heading down.
It was going to be a hell of a celebration in the Great Hall tonight and we didn't want to miss it.
Good thing the place could expand as needed.
Walking down, I signaled to those stationed inside the tower of our victory, letting them know that they could head down after a sweep to make absolutely sure no enemy had sneaked off somehow to possibly cause a tragedy on this auspicious day.
I quickly split off from there to go aid my wife in her efforts in the Infirmary. She may be the better healer by quite a decent margin now, but I was still far from incompetent in the art. With so many foreign, and also 'pureblood', magicals attacking, there are bound to have been spells and curses thrown around which no one had counters or fixes for, hence my value.
Arriving at the Infirmary, I counted just over two dozen being fussed over by the 15 healers we had on standby, with the possibility that others had been taken to St. Mungo's due to not having enough space or hands. None look too urgent, beyond the one my wife was scowling at as she and her two assistants worked intently on him.
With a quick look, I noticed that he was being affected by a rather nasty looking transformation curse which slowly ground the bones and muscles of the cursed to torture them and render them unable to fight unless the proper counter-curse is applied. A favorite of Bog-Hags and Old Witch Covens.
Luckily for this man, Tory didn't need the specific counter-curse for this version and could just bypass the annoying part, allowing to fix the limb in question by vanishing the destroyed bones, fixing the placements of the muscles, nerves and veins while numbed, then have the bones regrow properly.
"Should have not applied the damn numbing charm." She groused at the man as he twinged in pain, obviously his wife skimped out of the charm a bit. "Idiot not taking a downed criminal's wand or checking for a backup."
That would explain it.
An Auror should know better.
"Good news is that these should be your last patients for the day." I spoke over her shoulder as I observed her work. "We've won."
"Like there was any doubt." She snorted without looking away. "You wouldn't have let anything up to chance. You have far too much Slytherin in you to do so.
It's part of why I married you.
You aren't a total Ravenclaw."
"Harsh. I'll have you know I'm the most Ravenclaw. Best feathers around over cold scales." I fake preened as she rolled her eyes from my grin. "Anyway, need any assistance?"
"*Huff* Go make sure those idiots working on Auror Fawley don't accidentally get themselves cursed." She gestured with a short head tilt. "Whatever he received likes to hop hosts."
"Got it." I immediately agreed. "Let's make sure to hurry though, I want to go back home to our daughter."
"So do I." Victoria softly spoke. "And then we can take that vacation you promised and get out of this lousy weather.
I expect luxury mister."
"As you command." I jokingly replied as we smiled and got to work.
The rest of the night was mostly a blur of relief and celebrations as Hogwarts was turned into a giant feasting hall once the younger students were called back to join in.
Minster Black went on the Wizarding Radio to announce Tom's death and the capture or end of all forces which had accompanied him on his assault on Hogwarts. Special, pre-prepared, editions of both the Prophet and Herald were already on their way to the public to let those without or not listening to a radio know of his true end. Everyone involved had been certain of their victory, just not the cost, which was turning out to be incredibly cheap all things considered.
Their forces were just far too prepared and the ambush had been flawless. Once it hit, Tom's forces just didn't have any chances.
By the morning, everyone in Britain, and important figures in other European Magical Governments and ICW, knew that the threat of Dark Lord Tom Riddle having officially passed. For good this time, with an unfortunate Harry being reported as having been the one to officially beaten the Dark Lord, being dubbed The-Man-Who-Conquered by one Radio host, which did, much to his dread, catch on soon after.
That was amusing to read about as Tory, little Delphini and I swiftly left the British Isles to avoid all the annoyances which would occur and all the brown-nosing which Harry and Mother were going to be dealing with as two of the main forces involved in this matter. Something I know for a fact said mother figure was not happy about due to not being allowed follow my example, leaving her to deal with 'magical stupidity' and the fair number of non-magicals having to be obliviated due to fools celebrating too much.
I wasn't so cruel as to leave her hanging dry though, having long since organized my people to help handle the fallout of what Tom's death would mean, alongside the death/capture of so many 'prominent Lords' and Albus Dumbledore. Knowing that, I had also left a strong recommendation for Sirius to use a pre-organized vacation for Harry and his friends to escape the Wizarding world for some time, evading much of the fervor in which they would attempt to set them up as leading figures like they had for Dumbledore in the past.
It was why I had left so soon after all.
My own name was already making rounds as the one responsible for the enormous firestorm which engulfed Hogwarts protectively. It also brought to light my ability to actually burn away the magic inside magicals, causing many to grow incredibly fearful and many others to want to cram me into the gaps left by the recently deceased Albus Dumbledore as another coming of Merlin.
I did show up for his funeral, which was a wonderful affair due the great good he had achieved regardless of the many mistakes he had made in his life. Scores of individuals from many races and countries came to show respect for the man and to wish him luck on his next great adventure.
It almost turned into a bit of a media nightmare as both myself and Harry had appeared publicly, but some very stern warnings from the on-site security held them at bay.
Those images of me with Sol certainly didn't help my comparison to the recently deceased man though.
But that just meant our vacation had been extended until the next school year.
Hogwarts having essentially let its students out early for the year due to the attack, only having OWL and NEWT students remain for their testing.
By the time we had returned, much of the aftermath had been settled, although they had waited for our return before holding an award ceremony which did involve the illustrious Minster threatening me into attending, which was very uncomfortable for Harry as he never felt ok with being in public like that.
Once that was done, well things started getting back to normal really.
Tory went back to St-Mungo's to work some shorter shifts, wanting to spend more time with our daughter. I accepted to stay as the DADA professor and aid the restructuring of Hogwarts as Headmistress McGonagall really wanted to revitalize the school now that the Board of Governors wouldn't be an issue and the Ministry would fully support her efforts.
This meant not only finding new professors to fill out the Transfiguration and Potion posts, Severus Snape having been found not guilty of Dumbledore's death thanks to many witnesses coming forward to state that it was by the man's own order and the will itself stating as such, although he had no desire to teach in the first place, only doing so at the former Headmaster's behest.
He was actually welcomed into Breaking Grounds, feeling incredibly satisfied with where he now was.
To assist a bit, I did organize for a few suitable Potion Masters from the company to come teach at various levels, allowing them to spot up-and-coming talents in the field while lessening any workload by dividing it up.
Minerva brought in a Transfiguration Master she had been a longtime friend and correspondant to in order to fill in the role in that department.
A grand change supported by most of the staff was the reforming of the apprenticeship system which allowed for professors to bring in assistants for their work while helping them attain Masteries in exchange, lessening everyone's workload while also aiding in monitoring students. An effort supported by the Ministry to elevate the level of magicals in the Isles instead of being cheap, helping make up for the numbers lost over the last few decades and the less than ideal education received as a result.
It would take a few years, but under Headmistress McGonagall's guidance, many classes returned to Hogwarts to truly help students prepare for their futures, while out of date ones were revamped and teachers like Binns and Trelwaney were either forced out or to improve.
A truly wonderful means of actually bringing about a better future by improving the next generation, something I did throw my full weight behind.
Outside of school, my own friends did get married.
James wed Fleur a few short months after the Battle of Hogwarts, the two opening their own shop with a focus on enchanting and magical creations soon after. It quickly became a well established name in France thanks to my friend's incredible skills, craftsmanship and innovations whilst his beautiful wife truly had a flair for her own style of enchanting and rune work.
The two even popped out their first child, a son they named Jacob, with myself as Godfather, a year and a half into their married life.
Christian had to wait a year for Luna to graduate before he could even get to it, but Luna wasn't known for being conventional and she wasn't starting with her wedding as she hijacked the planning and decided to hold it in the Merpeople city of Atlantis before heading out to the Amazon for the honeymoon and coming back pregnant three months later.
They actually had a daughter named Europa who took much more after Luna than Christian, to which I was also the Godfather.
Pregnancy didn't stop Luna from enjoying her world travels and the Islands full of magical creatures and plants the Ward family had been made Rangers of, nor did her daughter's birth mean she wouldn't be introducing her to all the wonders they had.
Time did keep going too.
Harry had some stints in various fields, going through Auror training, Broom Racing, even a bit as Seeker for England in World Cup, until he actually ended up travelling the world for some time with Hermione as she became rather interested in learning outside the bubble of Britain and Harry had never had the chance to even leave the Isles before. The two got together whilst doing so, before they returned to marry and actually pursue some official Masteries to open more doors.
Hermione went into Arithmancy and Transfiguration, the former due to her own personality and thought process being very in line with the subject, while the latter was partially out of admiration for McGonagall, and Harry specialized in DADA which did mean he had to understand a good deal of Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology and CoMC. The two actually coming to Hogwarts to do them, Harry as my assistant and Hermione partially under Vector and the Headmistress until they did finish and continued their travels for some years before properly settling down and giving birth to their first son, James.
Ron went into dueling, becoming rather established and even earning a good number of championships home while his wife, Lady Greengrass, managed her family businesses and did join him from time to time to keep her skills sharp. That is when she wasn't busy producing little Greengrasses as they started with twins girls named Sophia and Elizabeth on the first go.
My own little sister ended up with Neville, the two having bonded over some shared interests and then more so in terms of beliefs as Neville matured. He immediately apprenticed under Professor Sprout for his Herbology Mastery while Susan followed more in line with Amelia's footsteps as she aimed for the Aurors. Both were supportive of each other, even if Neville did have a few worries due to what had happened to his parents in the past.
It took a few years, but they did pop out a new generation of Longbottoms. A dark red-headed son they named Michael.
Even Mother managed to make a new Black after Sirius had been fully healed from his time in Azkaban, naming him Canis, much to the surprise of many and grins of those in the know.
For Tory and I, well it took longer for us to conceive, which was stressful on Tory even when we had Delphini, but we figured that if Tom could do it when he was what he was, then we wouldn't accept any less.
In the end, when Delphini was about to head out for Hogwarts, we managed to give her a little brother named Archer Edward Bones who shared my own silver hair and blue eyes, having been born of very strong strong magic.
But by the time our daughter did head to Hogwarts, I had passed down my post to Harry after he and his family had come back to Britain to settle down, allowing me to focus on my passion for magic itself.
From there, I lived a wonderful and fruitful life.
Only passing on once I had reached my third century with my wife after we had decided it had been enough. She had long since figured out how to lengthen her own life, but we had done enough and believed it was time to let others move forward without us.
Only once I had passed did Mr. & Mrs. Death appear before me anew.
"Did I earn my second chance properly?" I asked them with a jovial smile as my apparence shifted from the older man I had become to my more youthful state.
The two before me still looking exactly how they had when they sent me to the world I had lived in and helped grow.
"You did." The female aspect with pitch black hair and eyes softly answered. "And now we have an offer for you."
"Does this offer involve my wife?" I questioned with a bit of steel in my voice.
"Not in the way you would believe." The male aspect responded with his more hardened and authoritative voice.
"We would like you to become one of our champions in our afterlife." His other half continued. "To protect the souls who are there before reincarnation and participate in competitions on our behalf against other aspects and their champions.
All mostly harmless and you and your own loved ones get the best while you serve as champion and they stay in our afterlife."
"Now that sounds interesting." I couldn't help but grin.
I had long since run out of challengers in magic and I could learn so much from other systems and some possibly old souls in the afterlife.
"You've got yourself a deal."