Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 45 - Epilogue
At breakfast on the morning the students would leave Hogwarts for the summer, the Potter Press had an interesting article on the front page. It showed a muggle photograph of the graveyard in Little Hangleton with the corpses of Death Eaters lying on the ground the way Hermione had left them.
"This must be one of the photos the muggle police or reporters took," said Hermione. She then began reading the article.
"Death Eaters Gather at Cemetery and Kill Each Other?
By Anna Jesse
Two nights ago, muggle police in the town of New Hangleton were anonymously informed by a woman using a telephone (muggle communication device) that there were several dead bodies in a local cemetery. After the woman insisted that she wasn't making a joke, and that there were unburied dead bodies of people who had just died there, the police investigated. What they found were a group of people in Death Eater outfits, which of course the muggles didn't identify. However, the Ministry of Magic has obtained the bodies and identified every single one of them as having been a wizard who had claimed to have done Voldemort's bidding only under the Imperius Curse nearly fourteen years ago, and therefore had been released from charges after their master's downfall. The Minister is fairly certain that this is the same group that caused the disturbance at the Quidditch World Cup last year. An interesting fact is that Voldemort's muggle father, Tom Riddle, is buried at the graveyard they were found at. What they were doing there or what happened to them is a mystery, although the grave of Voldemort's father appears to have been tampered with."
The article went on to name everyone that was found there, including Crabbe's and Goyle's fathers. When they were finished with the article, Harry said, "I wonder if he had my name entered in the tournament."
"I don't think we'll ever know," said Hermione.
"Who?" asked George, who was standing behind them.
"Oh," said Harry surprised. "We were just wondering who entered me in the tournament."
Fred and George shared a look. "I guess we can tell you now, Harry…"
"Since you won…" said George as Harry and Hermione began staring at the twins.
"…just like we knew…"
"…and bet that you would."
"It was us," they said together.
"What?" said Harry. "How?"
"With that remote-controlled helicopter you charmed for us," said Fred.
"You even borrowed it on Valentine's Day," said George.
"We would've thought that you."
"Or at least Hermione."
"Would've figured that out by now."
Harry and Hermione stared at each other, and then at the twins. Hermione finally spoke. "I would've thought you'd enter yourselves."
"We did," said Fred. "We put our names in, and then Harry's."
"We decided to let the goblet decide who the champion would be."
"Once it picked you, we started betting."
"Well, thanks for risking my life for your financial gain," said Harry, secretly impressed by their ingenuity.
"Anytime," said George. "By the way, did you lose your glasses in the tournament?"
"Because you haven't been wearing them since you won."
"Oh, yeah. You're not the first people to ask. I ordered contact lenses." Harry had decided to stop bothering with the glasses, but they decided to keep their involvement with the spell a secret. They planned on speaking to an Eye Healer this summer about it. "So how much did you make off of me?"
"We'd have to check our records," said Fred.
"But it was quite a large sum," said George.
"Then you should give Harry a percentage of your winnings!" said Hermione forcefully. "He doesn't seem to mind what you did that much, but I do! After how much we already helped you with the muggle technology charms, too!"
"Hermione," said Harry gently, "What's done is done. Yelling at them won't change anything. Besides, I did win." He grinned at her, "and got the prize money."
"Well," said George, "We've got to finish packing." They then left.
Hermione sighed and grinned back at Harry. "Oh well. I can't believe they're not finished packing yet."
At that moment, Fleur Delacour walked up to them with her head down. "I wish to apologize for my behavior this year. I decided that I wanted ze famous 'Arry Potter but found zat he waz taken. I should haff left it zer, but instead I tried to interfere with your relationship. I waz wrong to do zo, and am glad to zee that your relationship waz ztrong enough to withstand my azzault."
Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded. "Alright." He then shook Fleur's hand.
The French girl said, "Oh by zee way, congratulationz on winning zee tournament. You are much more powerful than both Viktor and myself, even zo you are younger."
"Thanks," said Harry, and Fleur walked away from their table.
"Harry," said Hermione, "We should say goodbye to our teachers now."
"Alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I've got a question for Dumbledore anyway."
They young couple first walked up to Dumbledore. "Headmaster," said Harry, "Are you still planning on training us this summer?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled madly at him. "If you're both still interested, absolutely. Despite the fact that we no longer face the threat of Voldemort, I believe that passing down knowledge to the next generation is vital to our world. Besides, you never know if another dark wizard like Voldemort will attempt to gain power. Although it's not normal to take on two apprentices at once, I believe that you are exceptional people. I'd like you both to become my apprentices. Our studies will take four hours per day, five days per week until the middle of August, but by then I believe you will both have learned everything I wish to teach you, provided that you put forth the same effort that you have been into your studies. Professor McGonagall has been very impressed with you both as well." Albus smiled as his eyes twinkled. "She has already submitted the Gryffindor prefect recommendations, although I am not allowed to say who they were," he said with a wink.
A huge grin formed on Hermione's face. "Really?" she asked excitedly, "Of course you can't answer that."
Harry smiled to see his girlfriend so excited. "Thank you, Headmaster. We'll see you next Monday." They then talked briefly to Hagrid, McGonagall, and others, until finally they decided to get their stuff out of Gryffindor Tower.
As they were headed out of the Great Hall, they both saw Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle walking toward them with evil looks in their eyes. Suddenly the three Slytherins fell backwards as though pushed as Harry and Hermione smiled at them."
"I know you cheated in the tournament, Scarhead!" Draco hissed when he stood up (blaming his bodyguards for the fall) and dusted himself off with a grin that quickly went away as he lost control of his bladder. He then ran off, followed by his stooges.
Chuckling, Harry walked with his girlfriend as they headed toward Gryffindor Tower to collect their trunks. "So, I suppose we'll have to continue our workouts every day."
"Yes," said Hermione, "Now that we've gotten in shape it would be a shame to lose that."
"And we'll also have to do homework."
"Of course. Not to mention Quidditch practice," said Hermione.
"You know," said Harry with a huge smile, "Even though I played with you a lot last summer, it still seems amazing to hear you say that."
She blushed. "I haven't been on a broom since August, so it's easy to forget. I'm going to have to practice if I want to make the team as a Chaser next year."
"Something about that idea makes me want to pull you into a broom closet and snog you senseless."
"Then why don't you?" she said seductively.
-
Thirty minutes later, a disheveled-looking Harry and Hermione entered Gryffindor Tower to find Neville and Ginny snogging passionately in the Common Room. They grinned and walked up to their dormitories, deciding to leave the couple in peace.
-
When they got onto the Hogwarts Express, Neville, Ginny, Harry and Hermione began their search for a compartment. Professors Black and Lupin were portkeying to Potter Manor, but Harry decided to take the train because of a certain prank Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny had planned during the ride. After finding several places full, they finally found that the last compartment only had two people. Ron Weasley and Susan Bones were snogging passionately, apparently oblivious to everything that was going on around them.
Hermione and Neville blushed, but Harry whispered, "Let's sit down here and see how long it takes them to realize that they're not alone."
Ginny whispered with a grin, "As long as they don't go too far."
The four of them managed to put their trunks away and sit across from the couple without disturbing them. They'd even set up a prank for Malfoy, whom they knew would be kind enough to pay them a visit soon. After they'd been there ten minutes, the door opened again, revealing Draco and his goons. Harry caused a bucket that was being levitated to turn upside down when they stepped forward.
Ron and Susan broke apart blushing when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle yelled as some type of liquid spilled all over them. Hermione then made them fall into each other because the potion required physical contact.
"Crabbe, Goyle," said Draco passionately, "I love you both!"
They both looked at him with lust in their eyes. "We love you too, and we also love each other." They got up and walked out the door side by side with Draco in the middle. Draco had one hand on each of their bums while they each had a hand on his.
As the door was closing, they saw Draco kiss each of them quickly and stop at the next compartment to announce happily, "I want everyone on the train to know that Crabbe, Goyle, and I are in love!" They then walked to every other compartment on the train doing the same thing.
Everyone in Harry's compartment was laughing. Ron said, "Whatever that potion was guys, it was brilliant!"
"Thanks," said Hermione.
"How long will that last?" asked Susan.
"Until every person on this train has heard them declare their love," said Ginny giggling.
-
About an hour later, the group knew that everyone had been told of Malfoy's romance by how loudly he was yelling. When he got near their compartment, he screamed (without touching the door), "I'll get you for this, Potter!" before he and his 'lovers' quite obviously lost control of their bowels in the hallway of the Hogwarts Express, as far away from the bathroom or their compartment as they could get." They ran off.
"That was cruel," said Hermione, although she was chuckling.
"They deserved it," said Harry. "If they'd just leave us alone I would leave them alone."
"That's not what I meant," she said. "I meant forcing everyone on the train to smell that."
"Not to mention hear their noises," said Susan looking somewhere between amused and offended.
"I admit the smell is foul," he said, holding his wand and cleaning the air. "Is that better?"
"Much," said Hermione. "I wonder if those three will ever figure out that you're doing that to them."
"Never," said Harry with a grin. "If they did, Malfoy would have to realize that I know spells he's never heard of. Since I'm a half-blood, that's impossible."
Everyone laughed at that comment.
"You'd think that by looking at Crabbe and Goyle, he'd realize that being pureblood doesn't make you a good wizard," said Ron.
-
When the train ride was over, Harry and Hermione met Sirius and the Grangers.
Adam said, "I read the paper about those mysterious deaths at the cemetery in Little Hangleton," with a smirk. "They think it was some sort of cult that did a ritual suicide."
"They're right," said Sirius. "Trying to hold Harry captive is a form of suicide.
"I guess you won't have as busy a summer as last year," said Marissa.
"Er, actually, it's going to be pretty busy," said Hermione.
"We're going to both be taught by Dumbledore, four hours a day, five days a week," said Harry, "until our vacation at the end of summer."
"But why?" asked Adam. "With Voldemort gone, you don't have to worry about that prophecy. I know that you both can handle yourselves against the occasional crazy attacker."
"I know, but I think it's good to learn as much as we can. It's also an honor to be Professor Dumbledore's apprentices," said Hermione.
Harry added, "Besides, you never know when the next dark wizard will show up."
The End.
-
Please review. Thank you for reading (and reviewing) this story. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. It's hard to believe that this began as a one-shot. After reading HBP, I came to the conclusion that Voldemort is nothing more than a coward who made Horcruxes because of his fear of death. He's a good duelist, but can't stand up to a really powerful wizard like Harry is in this story. In GoF, Harry was severely outclassed, but in this story, Tom was.
The long-awaited sequel to this story is now up. It is called Harry Potter and the Muggle-born Uprising.
The Wizarding World faces an even greater threat than Voldemort - a civil war led by a dark lord from the past. As with 'Broomstick,' this story is set ten years later than canon. Therefore, it begins in 2005 instead of 1995, the summer before Harry and Hermione start their fifth year at Hogwarts. Remember that in the previous story, they found a way to power technology with magic.
I am coauthoring this story with zeropolis79 of fanfiction.net.