Finally, the final chapter of Savage Innocence is here.
I don't own Harry Potter.
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Epilogue
The overtaking of the Ministry of Magic was a swift and silent affair. Harry had confronted Ginny about her betrayal while waiting for the rest of the Wizengamot to appear. His "discussion" with her took place behind closed doors, with the room warded to prevent any sound from escaping, so no one except Harry knew for sure what had happened, although from then on, Ginny practically fainted in fear whenever she even so much as glanced at Harry.
With the Ministry under their control, the resistance fighters waited through the night for the Wizengamot members to appear the next morning, where they were cornered and offered a chance to surrender. One had tried to fight his way out, to no avail. The rest had yielded quietly.
With Hermione acting as temporary Minister, Harry was exonerated of the crimes that he was falsely accused of. Next, Hermione implemented a court system based on Muggle courts, with equal representation from both sides, each defendant ultimately judged by a jury of twelve randomly selected citizens.
For her role in framing Harry Potter for the assassination of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dolores Umbridge was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Nott Jr. was given the same sentence for the assassination itself. Everyone else's sentences ranged from community service to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Hermione then decreed that all dementors dwelling within Azkaban prison to be removed and destroyed, citing their extended presence as "a cruel and unusual punishment." In their places, autonomous sentinels were stationed outside each cell. These golems, immune to spells as well as bribes or blackmail, made the perfect guards for the prison.
After one year in office, Hermione had planted the seeds of a democracy in magical Britain, and stepped down for whoever her successor may be. Washing their hands of the country, Harry and Hermione packed up what little belongings they had left and traveled.
They wandered all over the world, finally free of the burdens that had weighed on their shoulders for most of their lives, to simply enjoy themselves. But while during they daylight hours, they seemed to be a normal young couple, enjoying the sights, things changed when night fell.
Nightmares plagued both of them as they vainly tried to sleep. For Harry, it was the events of the war with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, compounded by his lengthy incarceration in Azkaban; for Hermione, it was the stresses of maintaining a guerilla war for thirteen years. While sleeping together in the same bed was a habit that they had never abolished, their mutual insomnia pushed this action further than it ever had before. The first time that they had shared their bodies with each other was in Venice, six months after they left Britain.
For the next three years, it would become a routine for them: during the day, they would explore the city, acting like the tourists they were, and at night, they would lose themselves in the throes of passion until they could not help but collapse in exhaustion. It was harmless, and they were usually quite diligent with the contraceptive charms, but one night, they forgot, and the consequences of their complacency appeared soon enough.
Both of them had immediately dismissed the possibility of abortion. They had considered giving it up for adoption, but eventually decided against it. Harry's reason was his fear of another Voldemort rising up; Hermione's was more personal. "One day, we're going to look back on this moment in ten, twenty years from now," she had said. "If we give our child away, we're going to be wondering what will have happened to it, and that question will haunt us for the rest of our lives." They eventually decided to keep the baby, realizing that their lives were about to be irreparably changed again. Since they were not married, they decided that if the baby was a boy, its surname would be Potter, and Granger if it was a girl.
They eventually settled down in Australia, where they bought a house and found jobs: Hermione, a position at the local library; Harry, as a chef in a small nearby café. They also decided that they needed to face their demons, and began seeking a therapist to assist them. By sheer chance, they had found a psychologist that happened to be a Muggleborn wizard, and swore a magical oath to keep their secrets. From there, they finally let go of all the things that they had been containing within themselves for so long, and the healing process could finally begin.
On the seventeenth of June 2013, Joanna Lillian Granger was born. She had inherited her father's mop of black hair, although her eyes were unique: One was her mother's murky brown, while the other was her father's sparkling green.
While they occasionally wrote letters to their friends, Harry and Hermione never returned to England. When Joanna turned eleven, she was accepted to the Australian Institute of Sorcery, and grew up to become one of the most brilliant potion mistresses of the modern age.
Harry and Hermione enjoyed each other's company as domestic partners for many years before they eventually decided to marry. They bore another child, Jonathan Sirius Potter, who eventually became a world-class professional dueler. Hermione wrote several award-winning books, both fiction and non-fiction in both the Muggle and magical worlds, while Harry studied for a culinary degree and eventually opened a five-star restaurant. While it was not the future that they had imagined for themselves when they were younger, they had finally found something that they had spent over twenty years searching for:
Peace.
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There it is, the final chapter. Unfortunately, it is a bit on the short side, but I think it brings the whole thing to a satisfying close, don't you?
Don't forget to review!
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