Dark Daughter

Epilogue: A New Life

Harry sat at the table of his new home, reading the Daily Prophet. The issue explaining everything that had happened during The Attack had arrived at last:

The Whole Story

The world gives its special thanks to the legendary "Heirs of Hogwarts". (See prophecy on page six) Four young Hogwarts students are the souls whose courage saved us all. We all owe our lives to Cho Chang (Heiress of Ravenclaw), Michael McKinnon (Heir of Hufflepuff), Harry Potter (The Boy Who Lived and Heir of Gryffindor), and Amy Evans (daughter of Voldemort and Heiress of Slytherin).

Strangely enough, it was Amy Evans, a young girl who served as a spy for Dumbledore during the past year, the Heiress of Slytherin and the daughter of none other than Lord Voldemort himself brought the four Heirs together and contributed to killing her father. Yet even more surprising is the face that she is the cousin of Harry Potter (see page five)--

"Harry," said Sirius impatiently. "You already know about all of that! C'mon, have some breakfast!"

"Strange to hear to say that," said Harry, sniggering. "When you're skin and bone yourself!"
"All the more reason for you to do just the opposite!" Sirius protested. Lately, everyone had been pressing him to eat, when he kept trying to explain that he couldn't just make himself fatter by eating. It took time.

Harry and Remus (who had come for breakfast) laughed. Just then Hedwig swooped in carrying a letter. After depositing it in Harry's lap, she landed beside Remus and began to eat his half-finished bacon. Harry shook open the letter.

Dear Harry,

I'm trying to get all of the Heirs of Hogwarts together again this Friday. It's a sort of, "It's over!" party and now maybe you and the others can get to know each other better because the school's not under siege and everything. It's in a moor near Hogwarts and my mum (she works for the Ministry) has set up a portkey for the Heirs and you'll find yours contained in your letter. It'll take you there at eleven o'clock on Monday the twenty sixth of May. A group of students and I have put together a little something that we'd love you to see.

I send my respects whether you choose or whether choose not to come.

Sincerely,

Jason Black

PS Say hello to Uncle Sirius for me.

Sirius had been reading over his shoulder.

"You're welcome to go, Harry," Sirius told him. "I'll stay for a minute or two to make sure that it's safe and then I'll leave you if you like. That is, if you want to go?"

"I do," said Harry.

In truth, he hadn't been at all eager to meet the other Heirs of Hogwarts again. True, he was very close with them now, and wrote frequently, but seeing them and actually speaking with them again was a reminder of the hell he'd endured a month ago. However, seeing his cousin again would be nice.

After all, it was over. He'd have to face is memory sooner or later and what was better than facing it with people who'd endured the same thing?

* * *

Amy was sitting in the grass beside Jason on the twenty-sixth of May. She was staring up at the five huge stones that sat in the middle of the grassy field, all surrounding an even larger stone, which they were leaning against. The enormous slabs of sleek, black obsidian shone in the sun as the stretched over ten feet high, eight feet wide and two feet thick.

Engraved upon each was a different list of names. On one there was a list of the dead, which included Derek Abbott and Albus Dumbledore. Another included those who had been imprisoned. The next revealed those that had fought in the Last Battle fought just before the Dark Lord's fall in the last prison to be broken open. The fourth showed the names of the Order of the Phoenix. The last, and largest, displayed the list of those who had helped with all of the missions that Amy had assigned them, including what each group did. The Heirs of Hogwarts were given their own section, which was entitled "The Heirs of Hogwarts", as would be expected.

"It's amazing, Jason!" she told him. "It really is! You organized it?"

"I guess so," Jason replied modestly. "I just thought--well--what happened at Hogwarts shouldn't be forgotten. . . ."

"I know it will never be," Amy assured him. "How'd you do this, anyway?"

"The same way they built The Giants' Ring," he explained. "I think Muggles call it--Stone-hinge--stone-hind--erm--"

"Stonehenge," Amy corrected him.

"Yes, that," said Jason dismissively. "Well we dug enormously deep ditches--using magic, of course--and, using about two people per stone, we managed to Levitate them into the ditches and--wha-la!"

He opened his arms wide, gesturing to the huge obsidian stone circle.

"You'd helped more than most adults, by the time we got out of the forest, Jase," Amy informed him, "You hardly needed to do something like this!"

"Neville told me to go to the Ministry," Jason told her. "He said that my idea was good, but I never thought that they'd actually agree with me. And then, well, some of the Ministry members who interviewed Draco, Ron, Hannah, Mordicus and me suggested that I be in charge of it! I mean--C'mon . . ."

"Why not?" Amy wondered. "You and your group did a lot more than the others and you were one of the three who went the farthest. Why shouldn't you be in charge of making a monument?"

"I don't know," said Jason. "It's just--I still feel so . . ." he struggled for words to explain how he felt, "weak and small compared to all other adults."

"We still have a lot to learn, yes," said Amy wisely. "But you--and many others, including myself--have shouldered the burdens of adult wizards, if not more. What we did was amazing! Every morning, I wonder how any of us made it! We were at ages ranging from thirteen to seventeen--that's still kids--and we somehow managed to finish the worst war of all time!

"We're strong and no one can ever deny that!"

Jason grinned.

"What?" Amy worried that her speech had sounded stupid.

"Yeah," he said. "We are amazing."

"I still have trouble believing everything I did this year," Amy confessed. "I mean, sometimes those ten days of hell just seem like a realistic nightmare!"

"Me too," Jason told her. "But it happened and, like you said, we're a stronger generation, nation, and world for it."

"No one suffered as badly as Britain, though," said Amy. "Hogwarts got it the worst out of the entire world by far!"

"How so?"

"Well, apparently, Voldemort had planned this invasion of the world to take months. He was certainly prepared for it. But he made one mistake. By putting fewer Death Eaters in larger countries than Britain, he risked being overrun. He focused on Britain and forgot about the other countries completely for a few days.

"He only had about a hundred Death Eaters and people under the Imperius to help him and there's about a million witches and wizards there, so, you can guess who won. Arabella says that the war never even spread to the Muggle part of America."

"How many Death Eaters were here, in Britain?" asked Jason interestedly.

"About a thousand," Amy told him calmly and Jason gasped. "Yeah. Well, most of them were under the Imperius Curse and a lot weren't even British. He had his true Death Eaters from other countries help here too. So, you can imagine how weak his forces in other places in the world were. Most never got past the Wizarding worlds! I think the only reason they got so far was because of those Magical Mines."

"Blimey," said Jason.

"I know," said Amy. "By the way, have you heard who the next Minister is going to be?"

"Dunno," he said dully. "Did you hear?"

"Arabella says it's between Amelia Bones and Albert Arxcis," she paused. "I don't want Amelia Bones to leave the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, though. She's the most fair out of all of them, and there are many innocent people who are going on trial in the next few months."

"Are you going to help at all?"

"I'm going to try," Amy told him. "But I can only come if I'm called. Arabella works in the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, like Bones, and whenever they bring someone in, she tells me. I can usually tell. I knew who all of the real Death Eaters were."

"But what about those in different countries?"

Amy bit her lip. "I don't know what to do about them. All I know is that Professor Snape and a lot of other potion makers will be making a lot of Veritaserum."

Jason grinned slightly. "Have they interviewed Snape?"

"No, but--" Amy caught the look on her friend's face. "I don't want to hear it, Jase! I don't want to hear it!"

Jason forced a laugh. "They should be here any moment."

"Listen, Jason--" Amy turned to him. "I just--just wanted to--to thank you, I guess. I mean, you trusted me through all of that and--and you helped me with my plan. You risked your life to help me and--well--thank you!"

Amy threw her arms around him. Jason returned the embrace.

There was a loud popping noise in front of them. The Heirs had arrived. For a few minutes their parents and guardians made sure that it was safe, then arranged a time for them to come home and left. Jason hung back awkwardly.

"Hey," said Mike. "Erm . . . It's nice to see you guys."

They all agreed.

The chatted for a few hours, eating sandwiches (Cho was of age and could use magic outside Hogwarts) while Jason left them to it, saying that it was their time to talk. No one protested. Their conversations ranged from new and unlikely romances between fellow students to the war that had occurred only one month ago.

"Merlin knows we didn't do it alone," said Mike.

"We would be gone and this field a smoldering wasteland if it weren't for all of the other groups," said Harry.

"And if weren't for the fact that people can change," acknowledged Cho.

"And for the fact that there is love," said Amy, smiling as the others grinned.

"You might want to check what that stone behind you says," said Jason's voice. He had come back to tell them that, unfortunately, it was time for them to go home or the parents would throw fits. They looked at him rather than at the rock. "It says something that you once told me, Amy. And it's true."

They turned and read:

It is only through true love and friendship that the hate of the world can be conquered!

The stone circle had never, and would never shine so brightly in all of eternity.

The End