Authors Notes: Thank you soooo much to everyone who reviewed!!! I'm glad you like it so far, and I hope you'll keep liking it!!!
Just to clarify, I'm not actually rewritting the epilogue. However bad it was, it's canon now. All I can do is work around it. Hopefully what I'm writing will make it more bearable, particularly the last chapter, which I have already written which will make the epilogue seem 100 times better.
Two
Harry couldn't help but think that Kingsley was enjoying leaving them hanging on the edge of their seats. A good few minutes passed before he spoke again.
'Azkaban is full,' he said slowly.
'You want me to store Death Eaters in my basement?' Harry said and Kingsley laughed.
'No, I want you to figure out who's guilty. Both of you.'
Harry and Hermione exchanged puzzled glances.
'Harry, you have had more experience with Dark Magic than anyone I have at my disposal,' he said slowly. 'And, Hermione, you have the knowledge of someone twice your age.'
Hermione blushed.
'But why us? We're just kids.'
'You're not a kid, Harry,' Kingsley said sternly. 'And I can't believe you think that I think that.'
'Then why us?' Harry repeated.
'I need people I can trust are for the good of all people,' Kingsley said. 'There is still too much confusion in this world. People are still terrified- we all remember Frank and Alice Longbottom. They were attacked when we thought we were safe. I need to get the courts up and running again. And the only people I trust to do this is you two.'
Harry sat back in his seat and digested this. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione was obviously doing the same. There was silence for a moment, then Hermione broke it.
'We'll need to discuss this,' she said and Kingsley nodded.
'Of course, but you realise how time sensitive this is?'
Hermione nodded.
'We will let you know today.'
Harry knew at those words their meeting was over. He shook Kingsley's hand and followed Hermione out of the office, his mind swimming.
~*~
'What about Ron?'
Hermione had led the way out of the Ministry to a muggle coffee shop around the corner. On the way, they had passed the old entrance, where they had staged the first part of their plan to break in. How long ago it seemed.
'What about Ron?' Hermione repeated.
'I thought he was planning to help George with the shop,' Harry said. His conversations with Ron had been brief and very few- he had been hit by the death of his brother a lot harder than they had thought originally and seemed to be staying away, as if it was Harry's fault.
'He is, but…' Hermione didn't need to finish her sentence. Harry knew what she was thinking. Ron would feel left out if they were working together on this without him. After all, he had been there for all of it. He had done as much as them. Ron had always been sensitive about being left out.
'Can I ask a very blunt question?'
'Of course,' Hermione said, but she looked worried and stern.
'Are you two, you know, together?'
Hermione sighed.
'Not really. He asked for space. So I'm giving it to him.'
The brotherly feelings that had stirred in Harry on his birthday stirred again.
'I think we should do this,' he said, hesitating slightly. 'If we don't, who knows who will.'
Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry paid their bill and they headed back to inform Kingsley of their decision.
~*~
The Daily Prophet was waiting on the table when Harry went for breakfast the following morning. A large picture of himself and Hermione filled the front page, above the heading 'Granger and Potter to head the Office of Magical Law'.
He opened the paper to page 3 and started to read.
In a very surprising move last night, newly elected Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt announced that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had accepted the role of joint head of the Office of Magical Law, a reformed version of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
'We are trying to rebuild our world,' the ministers statement read last night. 'Part of the rebuilding involves punishing those who sought for it's destruction.'
Trials for accused Death Eaters could start within the month. Many may question whether Potter and Granger have the experience and the qualifications to uphold this prestigious role, but the Minister stands behind them.
'At the age of 18, Mr Potter and Miss Granger have achieved more than wizards twice their age. Miss Granger has an expansive knowledge of Magical Law, whilst Mr Potter is incredibly adapt at spotting signs of Dark Magic.'
Of course, the wizarding community lives in fear of reprisal attacks like the last time that You-Know-Who fell. The most famous of these is the attack on the Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom. The Minister assures that security is still a prime concern and task forces of the most trusted in the Ministry have been working around the clock to ensure that any person suspected of involvement, willingly or not, with the Death Eaters has been escorted to Azkaban to await trial.
Harry put the paper aside and ate his breakfast. Kreacher bowed him out of the house, with promises of his favourite treacle tart, and a full lunchbox. Harry still found it hard to believe that Kreacher was the same elf that he had met prior to his fifth year at Hogwarts. So often he thought of Dobby, and often wondered if Dobby would've stayed at Hogwarts, or gone to Harry, who he considered Master, though he was a free elf.
He apparated from the front step, directly onto Level 2 of the Ministry. He couldn't help himself and he smiled as he looked at the door in front of him.
Harry Potter
Joint Head
Office of Magical Law
Beside his door, was an identical one, only Hermione's name was listed instead of Harry's. Hermione apparated beside him as he started to open his door. They smiled nervously at each other, before heading in to get to work.
~*~
Despite his initial misgivings at the job that they had been given, Harry actually found himself enjoying the work. By day, whilst Hermione researched and organised, Harry interviewed what felt like everyone in the magical world. Being Harry Potter helped people talk- they would tell him everything.
By night, they would hole themselves up in their offices, or the drawing room of Grimmauld Place, and go over more files. They wanted the trials to begin as soon as they could have them- they knew that there were a lot of innocent or bewitched people in Azkaban, and it was up to them to get them out.
The other thing that surprised Harry was Ron's reaction. He and George had reopened Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, in memory of Fred. They worked well together, though it was obvious that Fred bought a lot of spark to the store. Harry had expected Ron to be upset, or even angry, about he and Hermione working together and being asked to do such an important job. But it turned out that he really couldn't care less.
'Better you than me,' he told Harry over lunch in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry felt this was some kind of blessing, and was secretly glad that Ron felt that way. It made him feel a lot less guilty about going to work every day.
~*~
August rushed by as fast as the other months had gone by. It was the 30th when he and Hermione declared themselves ready to commence trials, and on the 31st they had gone back to Grimmauld Place to prepare, as their floor at the Ministry had been taken over by worldwide wizarding press, eager to be the first to get any news.
Hermione yawned, throwing a file back down onto the stack and rubbed her eyes. Harry followed suit and they sat on the lounge, staring at the files that seemed to grow every day.
'At least we're doing some of the easy ones first,' Harry said, pointing to the pile of files right beside him. 'Let the ones we know are guilty rot.'
Hermione scoffed.
'If we go by the law, they're all innocent,' she said rolling her eyes. 'We haven't proved them guilty yet.'
'It's only a matter of time, for some' he said and she nodded, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back.
'Can I sleep here tonight?' she asked, turning her head from side to side to stretch the muscles in her neck. 'I don't feel like going home.'
'You don't even need to ask anymore,' he said. Since they had started working together, Harry had turned one of the bedrooms into Hermione's bedroom, so that if they were working late, she wouldn't have to apparate tired.
The conversation died out again as they buried themselves in more files. At 1am, Kreacher appeared and extinguished all the lamps and shooed them out of the room. Harry had to hand it to the elf, he wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Kreacher's care.
They walked slowly up the stairs, yawning on every alternate step. Hermione was holding his hand, leaning her head on his shoulder. The brotherly feelings crept up through Harry and he held onto her hand even tighter. He managed to keep these feelings in check when they were working, but when they worked late, sometimes they just over took him.
'Night,' Hermione said when they reached her bedroom door. Harry made to say goodnight, but something got caught up in his brain and he found himself bending slightly to kiss her tenderly on the lips.
He didn't know what to expect as he did it. He was very surprised when she kissed him back.