Bearings
Disclaimer/Author's Note: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. I honestly do not have the time to write two stories anymore, so this will be the final chapter of Bearings. It will encapsulate just about everything I had originally planned for the story, hopefully satisfying your curiosity and providing a terminus for this long-gestating work. I sincerely appreciate the support of all my readers over the years-you have kept me coming back to Harry Potter every time I thought I was gone for good-and I apologize for being unable to do this story its proper justice. Again, thank you so much.
Rise up and take the power back, it's time that
The fat cats had a heart attack, you know that
Their time is coming to an end
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Muse
Uprising
Conclusion: From Wizarding Britain, A History
After the Voldemort Era (1960-1997) came the Potter Era (1997-2095), which began surprisingly enough with Potter's exodus from Britain. Following his defeat of Voldemort in the spring of 1997, Potter decided to pursue his education at Stanford University, in the United States. He completed a degree in Business while excelling at NCAA Baseball and received an offer to play from the New York Yankees upon graduating, but the future Mrs. Hermione Potter persuaded him to return to Britain instead. He brought two Muggles with him-John Sanders and Erin Sanders née Lowell-that remained in the British Wizarding World until their deaths; we will return to their instrumental involvement in the Potter Movement shortly. Upon returning to Britain, Harry Potter was almost immediately asked by the then Vice Minister Arthur Weasley to run with him in the next election: Harry would step in as Vice Minister and Arthur would ascend to Minister, replacing Amos Diggory (who lost his son Cedric to Voldemort in the Triwizard Tournament of 1994). Arthur and Harry led a strong campaign throughout the rest of 2002 and ultimately were elected to the top two positions in the Wizarding government of Great Britain.
This marked the beginning of what has become known as the Potter Movement, which sustained its momentum until Harry's retirement from public life in 2095. Other than Harry Potter and Hermione Potter née Granger, the other key players are as follows: Ronald Weasley and Luna Weasley née Lovegood; Neville Longbottom and Ginevra Longbottom née Weasley; John and Erin Sanders; and Arthur, Fred, and George Weasley. Other minor players in the Potter Movement are: Viola Granger, younger sister of Hermione; and Jude and Zoe Potter, son and daughter of Harry and Hermione. The true network of support for the Potter Movement extends far beyond these names, but due to space we can only list the most influential here. You can check the bibliography in the back of this book if you want more specific information on the Potter cadre.
After assuming the position of Vice Minister, Harry was immediately confronted with more trouble. Narcissa Malfoy, due to the death of her husband and son in 1997, was leading a multi-national, underground pureblood resistance to the Weasley-Potter government. She orchestrated an attempt on Harry's life on November 11, 2002; although it was ultimately unsuccessful, her Killing Curse rendered Harry unconscious for two days, sending ripples of anger and fear through the Wizarding government that had not been felt since the mid-90s. Hermione Potter used one of the legendary Doomsday spells to protect Harry from twelve Dementors, destroying them in the process and revealing to the world her true magical capabilities. The fallout from the assassination attempt was rapid; the British government coordinated with other magical governments around the world (in what is probably the first good example of Arthur and Harry's diplomacy) to find the perpetrator, and Harry personally coordinated with the goblins of Gringotts. Due to Harry's position as a Director at Gringotts-the first human board member in more than a century-Ragnok and his constituents worked tirelessly to track Narcissa; on a diplomatic trip to Rome with other board members, Harry was assaulted by Narcissa once again, but this time he captured her with the help of the goblins. And even though the goblins wanted to mercilessly torture the information about the underground resistance out of Narcissa, Harry would not let them. She was instead given a fair trial and sentenced to life in Azkaban (coincidentally now guarded by the goblins) with a possible chance of parole if she revealed all she knew about the pureblood resistance.
That possibility loosened her lips and she spilled everything she knew, which led to the eventual capture of more than two hundred witches and wizards the world over. This was the decisive factor that cemented Harry's position within the political realities of the magical world: not only was he arguably the most powerful wizard in the world, but he was also able to play the political games to accomplish what he wanted. Arthur and Harry served two more terms as Minister and Vice Minister, spreading their messages of tolerance and progress across Britain and the world. In the election of 2014, Harry ran for Minister and Griphook, his longtime goblin confidant and friend, ran as Vice Minister. At the time, it was an incredible and unbelievable step toward magical equality; their margin of victory was as impressive as it was unexpected, because none of the commentators of the age thought Britain had been ready for a human-goblin led government.
The Harry-Griphook partnership quickly ushered in the golden age of magical equality and political progress; by the time Harry left office after three terms as Minister in 2026, most sentient magical creatures had nearly as many rights as humans. Even Hogwarts, which had long been purely for witches and wizards, began admitting children of other races in 2019 (Logan, the son of Libby, a Potter House Elf, was the first of his kind to attend). The school's former enrollment of 280 swelled to over 1000 in 2025, which was when the two newest houses were opened and the two newest wings were commissioned. 2026 was also the year when Minerva McGonagall finally took her much-deserved retirement; Neville Longbottom replaced her as the head administrator at Hogwarts, where he would remain as Headmaster until his death in 2099. When Harry left the formal magical government in 2026, Griphook ran for Minister with Hermione Potter as his Vice Minister (she had formerly been the Chair of Muggle Liaisons, where she had significantly reduced the magical-Muggle divide). They ran nearly uncontested and won a landslide victory over the last conservative vestiges left in the government; for the next seventy years, the Equality party dominated Wizarding Britain, pushing through changes that were unfathomable during most of the twentieth century.
The Chief Warlock position in the Wizengamot had been vacant since the death of Albus Dumbledore in 1996, and immediately after leaving the position of Minister, Harry Potter found himself nominated by an overwhelming majority for it. So in July of 2026, Harry formally became of the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot of Wizarding Britain. His wife, Hermione Potter, was the Vice Minister; Neville Longbottom was the Headmaster of Hogwarts; Ginevra Longbottom was the Chief Executive Officer of St. Mungo's Wizarding Hospitals, which had grown from one location in Diagon Alley in 1997 to forty-three locations the world over in 2026. Luna Weasley was the Editor-in-Chief of Quibbler, Inc., which produced three of the world's most popular magazines, one of which was (and still is) intended for Muggle audiences; Ronald Weasley was the general manager of the European Quidditch Association; John Sanders was one of the three Chief Financial Officers of Gringotts; Erin Sanders was Vice President of Security for Gringotts (Europe); Viola Granger was in Muggle graduate school completing her Ph.D. in quantum and nuclear mechanics, which would lead to her revolutionary studies on the physics of magic; Jude Potter, born in 2006, was a successful chaser on the Chudley Canons; and Zoe Potter, born in 2009, had just finished her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, graduating with near-perfect marks.
The older members of the Potter Movement, as you can see, all occupied positions of considerable power in the Wizarding world, which explains their lasting influence. Harry became the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in 2026 and would remain in the position until 2095; shortly thereafter, in 2029, he also took the position of Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Like Albus Dumbledore before him, he occupied what many consider to be the two most powerful Wizarding positions in the world (due to the strength and influence of the British government). He wielded his considerable magical and political power for the good of many, though, and by the middle of the twenty-first century, when Harry turned seventy, sentient beings of all races mingled in all areas of life with almost no second-thought. To call this period a golden age is an understatement when compared with the paranoia, bigotry, and discrimination present in the late-twentieth century (and at all moments before then, really), but the sense of the term is correct.
After serving as Vice Minister and then Minister for a total of 5 terms, Hermione Potter left office in 2046 to pursue her true passion: Muggle liaisons. She set up her own firm in the years that followed to foster magical-Muggle relations, and by the time she handed it over to her daughter Zoe in 2065 (when Zoe was 56 and Hermione was 86), it had become the premier firm of its type. Hermione's lifelong passion never fully breached the magical-Muggle divide-the Statute of Secrecy still stands to this day-but her tireless efforts make complete integration a real possibility within the next few decades. After Zoe took control of the business, Hermione was a traveling lecturer, bringing her cause and her concerns to the rest of the world.
By 2095, when Harry Potter formally resigned from his tenures as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, the Wizarding world had been irrevocably changed. Sentient magical creatures of almost every race co-existed peacefully, Muggles were slowly becoming more than just inferior creatures, and the dark days of the twentieth century-from Grindewald to Voldemort-were a long-distant memory, accessible to only the oldest left alive. Harry Potter started in the Wizarding world as a malnourished and neglected eleven year old, but with the help of his loving wife Hermione Potter, he died in 2115 a legend. Following are dates of birth and death and last known occupations of the members of the Potter movement:
Harry Potter: July 31, 1980 - August 12, 2115. Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards.
Hermione Potter: September 19, 1979 - January 25, 2109. World-famous guest lecturer and speaker about Muggle Liaisons; Professor Emeritus of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts.
Jude Potter: July 30, 2006 - November 8, 2130. Owner of the Chudley Canons and international talent scout, EQA (European Quidditch Association).
Zoe Potter: April 23, 2009 - December 31, 2148. Lead Counsel and Owner of Potter & Potter, Muggle Liaisons.
Viola Granger: December 14, 2002 - February 19, 2103. Magical Physicist.
Ronald Weasley: March 1, 1980 - September 21, 2105. General Manager, EQA.
Luna Weasley: May 4, 1981 - May 4, 2021. Editor-in-Chief of Quibbler, Inc.
Neville Longbottom: July 30, 1980 - June 23, 2099. Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Ginevra Longbottom: August 11, 1981 - March 29, 2100. CEO, St. Mungo's Wizarding Hospitals.
John Sanders: October 31, 1979 - January 17, 2062. CFO, Gringotts.
Erin Sanders: July 4, 1980 - April 21, 2059. Chief Security Officer, Gringotts.
Arthur Weasley: February 6, 1950 - March 30, 2064. Minister of Magic.
Fred Weasley: April 1, 1978 - September 12, 2096. Joint Owner, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Weapons.
George Weasley: April 1, 1978 - December 23, 2104. Joint Owner, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Weapons.
Even though all of the members of the Potter Movement are now dead-the last, Zoe Potter, died thirty years ago-you can still hear and feel their presence if you walk through the Ministry, Gringotts, St. Mungo's, and Hogwarts. Harry's inscription from 2022 around the dome of the atrium at the Ministry still stands, even though it has faded in the intervening 156 years. It says:
Out of the Ashes of the Rise and Fall of Voldemort, We Have Found Our Bearings. We Promise to Promote Equality Across Britain and the Rest of the World, and We Work Toward True and Lasting Change. HJP
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