Phoenix Intuition

Chapter Sixteen

Snape was impressed to later discover that when failing to stop the missiles that hit North Korea, Luna had taken another action that he had thought at the time was necessary, but hadn't mentioned: she had made the entire country of North Korea a magic-free zone, or more precisely, an area in which only love magic could be used. She had realized that the North Korean Dark wizards, in their desperation and anger at the radical turn of events, might well take extreme magical steps that would expose the wizarding world. He did not know that she did it because she had looked into the minds of a few of the Dark wizards and saw that after the failure of their missiles, they planned to magically transport most of their remaining nuclear weapons to the South and detonate them, regardless of how it would appear. She had decided that stopping all magic was the safe thing to do, and would prevent any danger of exposure without causing any additional danger, since a lack of magic couldn't be noticed by Muggles. It could be noticed by wizards, but she wasn't worried about that.

He felt pangs of conscience at what he had done that had contributed to her pain. He had known that Drake urged the North Koreans to attack, and given them reason to think they would suffer no retaliation; Drake killed the President, and compromised the vice-president so as to prevent him from retaliating. Snape had quickly informed the vice-president that he was free to act, knowing what he would likely do. If Snape had not informed him of Drake's capture, Patterson might not have launched the missiles at the North, fearing it would mean the death of his family. Snape told him about Drake's capture partly because it contributed to undoing the damage Drake had caused, but more because he wanted America to be able to respond with nuclear weapons if the North used them on the South; Snape felt that the North Korean wizards deserved to be deposed and killed, and the American nuclear attack was perhaps the only way to accomplish it. Snape knew that after the North Korean wizards attempted to use nuclear weapons on the South, the international wizarding community should band together to remove the North Korean wizards for flouting the agreements not to interfere with Muggles, but he had no confidence that they would do so. In addition, there was no objective proof that it was not simply the North Korean Muggle government that had launched the attack. In all likelihood, nothing would have been done.

As it was, Snape strongly suspected that most of the North Korean Dark wizards were now dead; deprived of their magic, they would have either died in one of the blasts or later from radiation, unable to escape. Snape felt this was a desirable outcome. It was unfortunate that tens of thousands of Muggles had died as well, but their wizard masters had sealed their fate. Snape knew this was probably of little consolation to Luna, however. He hoped she understood that she had done what she could, and that not acting at all would simply have meant that the South Koreans would have died as well, and the North Koreans wizards probably would have survived to continue their ruthless rule. If anyone was responsible for the tens of thousands of Muggle lives lost, Snape knew, it was he; had Snape not released Patterson from his straitjacket, he would have waited to retaliate, they would have discovered that the North's missiles hadn't worked, and wouldn't have launched their own missiles. Oddly, Snape found that his conscience was more disturbed by the distress his actions caused Luna than by the tens of thousands of deaths he was indirectly responsible for. He contemplated why that was.

* * * * *

"I don't know what the phoenixes did for him, but I do know that it really helped," said Pansy to Snape in Harry's living room. "I'd never seen a case like this before, thank goodness. Healer Haspberg saw him last night, and even then she said he was doing surprisingly well, considering what he'd been through. But she also said he'd have a long road back."

"As would be expected," said Snape. "I am pleased that the phoenixes were helpful. I will see him now; I just wanted to get the medical report first."

Pansy nodded. "Professor... what will you be doing?"

"Talking to him," replied Snape simply. He saw in her eyes that she understood the 'none of your business' subtext to his words and tone. He walked upstairs to the guest rooms, and walked into the first one on the right.

Snape had been in Harry's home before, but never in one of the guest rooms. This one, and Snape assumed they were all the same, was fairly large and had a bed, a comfortable reclining chair, a sofa, a coffee table, and a bookcase with a reasonable selection of books, including some Muggle titles. A few issues of the Prophet were on the coffee table. Hugo was sitting up in the bed, reading From Albus, To Harry. Snape nodded, and silently sat in the chair next to the bed on Hugo's left. Hugo put the book down on his right side, leaving it face up on the page he was currently reading. "Did you ever read this?" he asked Snape curiously.

Snape shook his head. "I viewed enough of his memories to be confident that there is nothing in there I did not know already. Are you finding it helpful?"

Hugo thought before he answered; he seemed to be pausing for reflection before doing anything, observed Snape. As if the simplest experience is a new one, that has to be seriously considered. "As much for the tone as for anything specific he says. He really comes through, comes alive in these pages. It's a lot like it was, listening to him talk. It's easy to take for granted when you can do it. I didn't think I took it for granted at the time, but now, I think I did."

"I suspect you do not take anything for granted at the moment."

Hugo again paused for a few seconds, then nodded solemnly. "No, I don't. If I ever do, it'll probably mean I've recovered. But that's not something I take for granted, either. I may recover, but it's difficult right now to think beyond today, beyond this moment." Snape nodded, saying nothing.

They sat in silence for a minute. "I want to thank you, for rescuing me."

Amused, Snape raised an eyebrow. "My recollection is that it was you who saved me."

"I think we both know that's not true. You went there on purpose, you let yourself get captured on purpose. I didn't need my extra sense to know that. You would never be so careless."

Kingsley, so far, had been the only other one to poke that hole in Snape's version of events. "I did not know that you were being held," Snape pointed out. "I came to capture Drake, not to rescue anyone."

"And yet, you did. What would you have done if he hadn't been so careless to allow me to attack him like that? He was usually fairly careful."

"Wizards often do not think in terms of physical assault, as Drake and the African mercenary discovered, not to mention the unfortunate Professor Shady," said Snape, deadpan. "I felt certain that he would make a mistake at some point. I suspected that he would start using the ring himself after the African was apprehended, and that would make him more susceptible to mental error. And it did; he took your obedience for granted in spite of the fact that he had not fully enslaved you."

Hugo shuddered. "It was very close, believe me. It took more willpower than I thought I had, to do what I did. That's why I said you saved me; I could never have done it without your being there, knowing you needed me to do that. It was as if seeing another person who was still free woke me up a little, reminded me that the hope I had trained myself not to see was still there." He paused; Snape could see the memories in Hugo's eyes, the damage that might or might not ever heal. "That was the worst thing about what happened... not being able to hope."

Snape nodded. "There is no greater death than the death of hope."

Hugo looked quizzical. "Who said that?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "I did." To Hugo's 'no, but seriously' expression, Snape shrugged. "I was not quoting anyone in particular; I am sure that it, or a variation on it, has been said by many. Anyone could recognize its truth, but very few are so well equipped as you and I to truly understand it."

"I thought about you a few times," said Hugo. "What happened to you and what happened to me were different, but similar in some important aspects: we both couldn't experience the full range of human thought and emotion, and we thought there was no chance our situation could change." There was another long pause. "I also want to thank you for requesting the phoenixes to do what they did. It was the most incredible thing." Hugo shook his head in awe at the memory. "I don't think I could be having this conversation with you now if that hadn't happened. It was like... the closest thing to heaven that can happen on earth. It was a powerful reminder that there was hope, that there was something worth continuing for, that I could come back. It was so powerful that it broke through a lot of the conditioning."

"I was not sure that they would be willing to do it," remarked Snape. "I have known them only to do it for companions, and they normally do not like to be near the... emotionally damaged. I know it was difficult for Fawkes to be in my presence for all those years. But Albus loved me, so though Fawkes sometimes was absent while I was with Albus, he frequently endured my presence, for Albus's sake. I do know one thing: if you were not a good person, someone they considered worthy of assistance, they would not have done it. Phoenixes are very... fussy."

Hugo considered it for a moment, then had another thought. He looked at Snape and asked, "Professor, why are you here?"

Snape could see that the question was asked out of curiosity, not suspicion, and thought it was a fair one. "I am here to help you, but also, to help myself. Ginny has recently taken it upon herself to assist my... emotional reclamation. I am teaching her Legilimency, but it is not an exchange. She would wish to help me whether or not I was doing anything for her. Harry would wish to as well, of course, but Ginny is better suited to it than he, at least in my case; she is more..." He searched for a phrase. "...emotionally aware of other people than he is. In any case, she wants to help because she sees a need, and feels she can do it."

Hugo slowly nodded, understanding. "And you see a need, and feel you can do it."

"It would not have occurred to me to do this before my time with her, and even if it had, I would have been unwilling, because it involves lowering emotional barriers I had kept up, unnecessarily, for a long time. Albus occasionally said, 'What we do for others, we do for ourselves.' In this situation, the truth of that seems very obvious. I am, it seems to me, the utterly logical person for you to talk to, to be a pillar of support on your journey back. I did Legilimens on you briefly after Drake was subdued, and I knew that, as literally as is possible for a human, you had been through hell." He met Hugo's eyes. "I knew how you felt, as I have been there.

"So, I will come by for an hour or two every day, usually after my classes have ended. We can talk, we can sit in silence, you can read; it will be up to you. But it occurs to me that there is some irony in the notion that if I am to help you back, I must take more steps along my own journey back." Snape paused, and a smile came to his eyes, and his tone. "Otherwise, what sort of example would I be?"

Hugo glanced at Snape with appreciation. "A very human one."

* * * * *

Arthur read the Sunday Prophet carefully; it was nice to read a paper that contained mostly good news for a change. Drake's capture had happened too late to be written about in Saturday's paper, which mostly contained news about Trent's insurrection and later arrest. Two editorials had praised Arthur for acting firmly, while two others had suggested that arresting a popular political opponent smacked of political repression and retribution. You can't make everyone happy, Arthur had mused.

Sunday's paper, however, was all about Drake and his capture. Drake's picture was on the front page, as was Snape's; Snape had grudgingly submitted to an interview in which he detailed how Drake had been captured. To Arthur's surprise, Snape went out of his way to credit him, and the Ministry's Muggle Liaison office in general, saying that the capture could never have been made without information gained from observations of the Muggle world. To Arthur's surprise, Snape didn't say a word about Hugo; Snape had made it clear that Hugo's role in all that had happened was not to be made public. If Hugo wanted to make it so after he recovered, he could, but Snape felt that the choice should be his.

Dentus had already told Arthur that Drake's capture would definitely cement his political status; Arthur had been around long enough to know that politicians got credit and blame for things that happened on their watch whether they were responsible or not. The fallout from Trent's arrest would be minimized, and Ministry employees would appear for work Monday uncomplainingly.

After breakfast, Dudley and Colin came over to give him a briefing on events in the Muggle world. Yesterday, Arthur had learned that the events of Friday night had instantly made America a virtual pariah in the world community; it was seen as having fired nuclear weapons at another country with no provocation. The Americans had protested that their information had clearly shown that nuclear weapons had been fired, but since there had been no nuclear explosions in South Korea, very few people and countries believed the Americans. Most were inclined to think that Patterson, taking over after his president had been assassinated, overreacted to news of a North Korean attack without getting enough information, and had panicked and shown a lack of restraint. China was beside itself in its anger, and Saturday afternoon had seen enormous, spontaneous anti-American rallies all over the world. There had been protest rallies in America as well, though somewhat less vociferous.

"Well, there's more bad news for America," began Dudley. "The Chinese did what a lot of people thought they'd do: they've started a massive sell-off of U.S. government bonds, which are called Treasury bills, or T-bills. The idea is to punish America economically for what it did. Now, I'm not an economics expert, so this is just from what I've read on the internet. Their selling the bonds drives the price of the bonds down, and other countries start selling so they get a better price before they go down too far. Interest rates will go up, which not only means that prices will go up, but the stock market will--"

"Dudley," interrupted Arthur humorously. "I'm fairly sure I know less about economics than you do. Just tell me the bottom-line effects."

Dudley paused, searching for the right phrase. "The U.S. economy is going to go into the toilet."

Arthur chuckled. "Okay, it can be a little more specific than that."

"I was going to say, everyone expects the U.S. stock market to crash. It's lucky for the Americans that this happened on a Friday night, after the market closed. The Americans probably won't open the stock market all next week while they try to do emergency repair work, but it's going to be bad whenever they open. The next year is going to be a tough one for the Americans. Higher prices, jobs lost, and so forth."

"As I understand it," said Arthur, "the world is pretty economically interdependent, and the U.S. economy is the center of it. Isn't this going to hurt everyone?"

Dudley nodded. "Somewhat, yes, but the Americans most of all. There's a lot of outrage out there. Some of it may go away when people find out that the North actually launched nuclear weapons, or was trying to, or that the Americans had reason to think so. But a lot of people don't care; their attitude is that the Americans should have waited until the bombs actually went off. The Americans claim that they were trying to stop more nuclear weapons from being used, and that waiting could have cost thousands of South Korean lives. But the world isn't in much of a mood to listen to, or believe, anything the Americans say. Their reasons for attacking Iraq turned out to be wrong a year ago, so that affects their credibility now."

"What I thought was especially interesting was the Japanese," added Colin. "Japan's been America's ally for sixty years, they always do what the Americans want. And they own the most T-bills of any country; if they joined the sell-off, it would be like a death blow to the American economy. It would be really crushing. Japan hasn't done that, but they--very conspicuously--haven't ruled it out. People think that they're using the possibility as leverage with the Americans, to get them to do what the Japanese think they should do. Also, Japan's public opinion had a very strong reaction; since they were the only country ever before hit by nuclear weapons, they have an extreme sensitivity to the idea of them being used. Anyway, if America doesn't start hopping to the rest of the world's tune, they're not going to crawl out of this hole anytime soon."

"Most countries want Patterson's resignation, since he was the one that launched the missiles," continued Dudley. "He has to pick a vice-president, who would become the president if he resigned. Some countries are actually floating suggestions about which American politicians should be chosen, which is usually a big no-no.

"As for the Americans, their politics are pretty chaotic right now. There's the war with Iran, reaction from what they did to North Korea, and the economy, which everyone knows is about to fall apart. No one has any idea what's going to happen in the future, which brings us to you."

Arthur sighed and nodded. "Barclay called me three times yesterday; I'm going to have to get one of those cell phones. Now that we have the proof, he's very keen for the wizards to start cleaning up the mess that Drake made, starting with Iran. The Americans, with their Legilimens, visited Drake yesterday, and the Persians are coming today. I'm hoping to get together with my counterparts from those countries after that and work out some agreement that would involve both America and Iran pulling back. The International Confederation of Wizards will have an emergency meeting tonight, which of course I'll be giving a speech at. So, I'm kind of busy."

"Well, you wanted this job," observed Colin humorously.

Arthur chuckled. "Not really, but I take your point. I'm not complaining; it's good to be able to accomplish something. I just hope we can. All right, thanks, boys. I'm sure I'll be hearing plenty about the Muggle situation, but do keep me informed."

They started to leave, but he asked them to stay a minute. "I just wanted to say, since I haven't yet, that both of you have done a great job with this whole situation. I want to make sure you know I appreciate your efforts. And Colin, congratulations on you and Luna. And on the phoenix, it's been a busy week for you."

Colin grinned. "Thanks, Arthur. It's been busy, but good." Mostly good, he added to himself, if you don't count having your girlfriend being desperately unhappy because she could have saved a hundred thousand people but didn't.

"The phoenix that joined you, did she have a name from her last companion?"

Colin tried to answer as honestly as he could. "I'm her first companion."

"Have you given her a name?"

Colin wondered what they would think; Luna had quite liked it. "Yes, I have. I'm calling her 'Mickey.'"

Arthur and Dudley both gave him quizzical looks. Anticipating their comments, he added, "It can be a girl's name. It just seemed appropriate, don't ask me why."

Dudley chuckled. "It sounds like a Luna-ish name to give a phoenix. Are you sure she didn't have any influence on how the phoenix was named?"

Colin smiled. "It wouldn't surprise me at all."

* * * * *

As Colin and Dudley briefed Arthur, Luna sat in her bedroom writing the behind-the-scenes story of Arthur's campaign. Perhaps, she thought, 'composing' would be a better word; she wasn't writing with a quill and ink, but rather, willing the words to appear on parchment. When she finished a page, she pressed it against the wall next to the other ones so she could see the story's progress.

"That looks like a convenient way of doing things," remarked her father as he walked through the open bedroom door. "I may have you set me up something where I can do that for the Quibbler."

She turned and smiled. "I'd be happy to. If I were going to do this for any longer, I'd get one of those Muggle computers. I've discovered they're pretty convenient for writing, once you learn how to type."

"So, you're not going to continue to be a reporter?"

She shook her head. "I like it all right; if this other thing hadn't happened to me, I could see myself doing it for a living. But the last thing I need to be around is news."

"Because it could be tempting," he surmised.

"Not that I think this kind of thing is going to happen all the time; I know it's really rare. But even the normal news has information about things that I would want to change. I just think it's better in general to be away from it."

"What are you going to do?"

"Be a hermit, live in a mountain cave," she joked. "I could marry Colin and be a housewife and mother; I'd have no problem with that. I'd think about anything that came along that seemed to be right, but right now, I want to be ambitionless."

"The bit about having children strikes me as a good idea," he said, half-joking. "You're sure you want to marry Colin? It hasn't been that long since you've been a couple with him."

"I've told you, Daddy, you get all the information you need from a phoenix-look. I don't need to know what his favorite color is or what kind of food he likes. I'm in love with him, and I know he's in love with me. That's all I need to know."

"But how can he be as sure as you? He can't take a phoenix-look."

"That's true. But we don't have to be in a huge hurry; I'll let him be the one to decide when to suggest that we get married. I know he's not going anywhere."

Her father chuckled. "He'll probably get a lot more interest from women than he did before, now that it's known that he's a phoenix companion."

"That's true," she conceded. "It'll be good for his ego; he's always been very shy around women. It'll be strange; I'll be around him as a phoenix, and some woman will start chatting him up, not knowing that his girlfriend is sitting right there watching."

He laughed. "It's a good thing phoenixes aren't violent. Do you think they'll back off once he tells them he's in a relationship? I know, many women wouldn't, but since phoenix companions are known to be people of integrity..."

"It'll be interesting to find that out. But I have to imagine that some women will be like, 'Oh, Luna Lovegood, he can do much better than that.'"

She could see the love in her father's eyes. "He couldn't do any better than that."

She stood and hugged him. "Thanks, Daddy." She might be all-powerful and have a partner who loved her, but she still needed her father.

* * * * *

For the first time in a month, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Pansy sat down to dinner in the dining room of Harry's home. Ron and Neville had been working almost every day for that time, including Sundays, and Hermione's Hogwarts duties would have made attending difficult. All had been there since four o'clock; preparing dinner had been a group project. Fortunately, the kitchen was large enough to accommodate five people comfortably.

"I have an idea," said Ron as he sat. "Next week, we get food delivered."

"I told you you didn't have to help if you didn't want to," said Hermione in a reprimanding tone.

"I'm sure he knows that, Hermione," pointed out Neville. "After all, he did very little to help."

Ron gave Neville an obligatory annoyed glance as Hermione nodded. "That's true," she agreed.

"Did he ever help with the cooking when he was younger?" Pansy asked Ginny.

"Nope. He only went into the kitchen to get food. He would throw together a sandwich if he absolutely had to."

"Did anyone ask Hugo if he wanted to join us?" asked Ron, in an obvious effort to change the subject.

"I did, but he said no, he wasn't hungry," said Pansy, her tone changing to one of concern at the thought of Hugo. "I think it's probably too soon for him to be with a bunch of people, anyway."

"I haven't heard too much about what happened with him, just the basic details," said Ron. "How's he doing?"

Hermione winced at the memory. "I couldn't believe what I saw when I did Legilimens the other night, after Snape brought him back. It was so horrible..." She quickly decided against providing further details; she completely understood and agreed with Snape's reason for wanting Hugo provided with maximum privacy. "But Pansy said he's doing better, better than they expected this soon."

"How long is he going to stay here?" wondered Ron.

"As long as he wants to," said Pansy. "He has to be someplace safe, and this house is pretty much the safest place on the planet, which is good from a psychological point of view. We're going to bring him food several times a day; he knows he's free to wander around the house. At some point he may want to play with James; that might be good for him."

"He can become all sorts of different colors," put in Ginny. "That reminds me, James really startled me the other day; he came running into the room just after making himself pitch black."

The others laughed. "Can you imagine if Fred and George had been able to do that, without a wand, when they were kids?" asked Ron.

"You and I would have gone years without knowing what our true skin color was," agreed Ginny. "They've come over to spend time with James a few times, in the past few weeks. I told them they can only do it under my close supervision. I don't want James to be corrupted. Who knows what they'd teach him."

"Spoken like a true mother," said Hermione, amused.

"Spoken like a sister of those two," suggested Ron.

Ginny pointed at Ron in agreement. "I know the dangers very well. Unfortunately, I have a feeling they're going to make it a quest now. I'm going to have to really come down hard on them, I think, to get the message across. They mean it to be harmless, but him not needing a wand makes misbehavior a completely different thing, and I'm really not going to put up with them encouraging it. They can train their own kids to be troublemakers, if they ever have any."

Nobody talked for a minute as they all worked on their food. "Ron, Neville," asked Ginny, "did they, and I suppose I mean Snape, find out anything more about this Drake than they released publicly?"

"Apart from what he did to Hugo, I don't think so," said Neville. "Oh, one thing. The American Aurors, going over the place yesterday after we told them where it was, ran across a woman walking around the place. They were able to catch her; she was someone Drake had enslaved a long time ago, three or four years."

Pansy gave Ron a significant look. "Is she the one who--"

"Yes, she is," answered Ron uncomfortably.

"Are you angry with her?" asked Ginny, her tone showing she understood it could be a sensitive question.

"I've thought about it, but I've decided that you might as well be angry with the wand of the wizard who hurt you with it. She had zero free will, she was just a tool. Kingsley isn't sure the Americans can ever get her back to what she was."

"I talked to Healer Haspberg about this yesterday, of course," said Pansy. "For someone who had it done completely, they can come back, but it takes a long time and there can be serious emotional damage. That kind of conditioning is hard to undo."

Hermione shook her head sadly. "It's amazing, the kind of cruelty that people do when they fall into despair. He must have been predisposed to it, I have to think, because most people wouldn't do what he did even if they lost a brother and a father, even if the circumstances were totally unfair."

"Oh, that reminds me, another thing Kingsley said," added Neville, "was that in looking for the roots of what happened, Snape isolated one day where Drake had an epiphany, more or less, just decided that this was what he had to do. It happened while he was asleep. The guy remembered what day it was, and... he was sleeping at the exact time Harry drove out the 'evil' bits of Voldemort. When Drake woke up, he was different."

The others traded amazed expressions. "That's... extra creepy," said Pansy.

"Tell me about it," agreed Neville. "It's hard to think it's a coincidence. I'm sure you all remember that Harry said after that happened that Albus told him that some evil entity was part of Voldemort, and that it would just find someone else after it was driven out. So either Drake was the one it found, or it was an amazing coincidence."

"It seems almost beyond ironic," said Hermione, "that Voldemort was the one who caused Drake's despair in the first place, then the entity that was a part of him just moved on to Drake to cause more. But I suppose that's just how evil works; Harry said that Albus told him that evil basically spreads itself in that way. The more despair it can cause, the stronger it gets, and it becomes a cycle. That's why we, and especially Harry, have to do our best to spread love, to fight that."

"In that case," suggested Neville, "it might be a good idea for Arthur to try to change how the Choosing works, if he can. The way it works made it possible for Trent to act as though the energy of love was politicized, that we were trying to take over. We know that's absurd, but some people might believe it. It might be better if there was no way to benefit from it politically."

"I don't know, it doesn't seem right to change the way something's worked for five hundred years just because different people benefit than used to," argued Ron. "Besides, this might make more people interested in it."

"I think it'll come down to how Arthur does as Minister," said Hermione. "If people think he does a good job, they might be less keen to change the system. But I know there'll be a lot of pressure on Arthur to change it, from the people who were Trent's strongest supporters. It's hard to say what'll happen."

"It might depend on what Harry says, too," suggested Pansy. "I mean, we all know Harry, he's never going to want to take a position on something like that. But he may have to. I mean, the Prophet suggested, and it makes sense, that there's another one like him who decided this. They'll ask Harry if he would have Chosen if he hadn't been out of commission at the time, and they'll point out that the system allows someone like him to basically choose the Minister; that might be an argument for scrapping this system."

"Well, if we got an unfair advantage, now was definitely the time to get it," mused Hermione. The others nodded in agreement.

"So, when's Harry supposed to be back?" asked Ron.

"Mid-December, apparently," said Ginny. "I'll be counting the days. Also, I'm thinking of surprising him. When he comes back, there'll be a new addition to the family."

Impressed, Neville glanced at her stomach. "Wow, and you're not even showing."

She smiled. "Not like that, obviously. No, I'm going to get a dog. We always talked about having one, but never got around to doing it. So, I'm going to do it."

"That's great," said Neville. "What kind?"

"I'll probably take James with me, see what he likes," said Ginny, "but I'm thinking of a golden retriever. Golden retriever puppies are really cute."

"Of course, by the time James gets done with it, it'll be a purple retriever," pointed out Ron.

The others laughed. "No, even though it's cute the way he does that all the time, I'm going to have to start insisting that he not change the color of anything alive, starting with the dog," said Ginny wistfully. "We all have to grow up sometime."

"Except Fred and George," said Ron.

"I suppose there's always exceptions," agreed Ginny.

December 19, 2002

6:01 p.m.

"I can't believe the number of people who wanted him to do this publicly, in spite of the fact that he wouldn't be wearing any clothes when he came back," said an amused Hermione. She, Ginny, Neville, Ron, Pansy, Molly, Arthur, and James were in the living room of Harry's home.

"I can't believe there were two articles in the Prophet about the fact that he'd be trying today," said Molly. "One is all right, but two?"

"Well, that's my fault," admitted Arthur. "I happened to mention to a few people that today was the day he'd be doing it. It never occurred to me that they'd run and tell the Prophet."

"They probably just told everyone they knew, and it didn't take long for it to get to the Prophet," suggested Molly.

"Daddy come back!" blurted James excitedly.

"Yes, he is," smiled Ginny. "It's the tenth time he's said that in the past few days. The funny thing is, he was saying it before I told him that it was going to happen soon. I assume Harry's been telling him in their bond."

Pansy and Hermione got the information from Harry through their phoenixes. "He says he's ready anytime," said Pansy.

Ginny nodded, stood, and walked down the hall and into the bedroom. Harry, in phoenix form, was on the floor of the bedroom. Ginny quickly pulled off her robe and other clothes. "Okay, go ahead," she said. Please, please let nothing go wrong, she thought. She didn't want to think it, partly because Harry's phoenix sense would know she was uncertain and nervous, but she couldn't help it.

The phoenix's form started to change. Within a few seconds, to her vast relief, Harry was lying on the floor naked, curled up in a nearly fetal position. He looked up at Ginny; she offered her hand to help him up. "Welcome back," she said with a wide grin.

He took her hand and stood gingerly, as if hesitant to stress his new body overly much at first. He stretched his arms, and looked at her quizzically. "Why are you naked too?"

"I knew you would be, and I just wanted to make you more comfortable," she explained innocently.

"Ah," he replied. "I thought it had to do with your needs."

She laughed. "That sounds good, but there's a bunch of people out in the living room waiting for you."

He smiled, with as much of a leer as was possible for him. "We could make it quick."

She tried to look disapproving through her smile. "That's not the kind of thing I want to encourage."

"I could stop time," he pointed out.

She considered it for a few seconds, then smiled. "All right."

* * * * *

To the people in the living room, no more than three minutes had passed since Ginny went to the bedroom. Harry decided to make a more dramatic entrance; he teleported himself and Ginny into the living room. A cheer went up, and James raced to his father. "Daddy!"

Smiling broadly, Harry picked up James and kissed him. "I missed you so much," he said. "I was there with you, but I still missed you." He hugged James, kissed him again, then handed him to Ginny so he could hug the others in turn: Hermione, Pansy, Ron, Neville, Molly, and finally Arthur. As he let go of Arthur, Harry's expression was somber. "I'm very sorry, Arthur. I feel like what happened to you is my fault. I know you never wanted to be Minister."

Arthur shrugged and patted Harry on the shoulder. "I knew what I was getting into," he said reassuringly. "You may have had the intuition, but it was my decision. You shouldn't feel bad. My life will be busy for five years, and then I'll relax and spend time with my grandchildren."

Harry sat on the sofa, with one arm around Ginny and the other holding James on his lap. The others took seats around the room. "I see your scar is gone," said Hermione. "People were actually speculating about that; most assumed it would be. There'd be no reason it would still be there." She frowned at him. "But you also look..."

She drew her wand, cast a spell at him, and the number '213' appeared in midair next to her wand. She did a quick mental calculation, and gaped at Harry. "Harry! Your chronological age, the age of your body, is seventeen years and nine months! Did you do that on purpose?"

"This is pretty much the age I had to come back as," he explained. "Phoenixes who have Burning days grow back to adulthood quickly, then stop growing. I wasn't going to get any older."

"So, you picked up five years," remarked Ron. "Cool. Were you aware of the time passing over the past two months?"

"Yes and no," he answered, looking thoughtful. "My memories, my consciousness, was with the phoenixes, as you know. They don't think in terms of time, so I wasn't really aware of time passing exactly, but I was aware of myself, and could communicate with the group consciousness in a way. I wasn't able to be very aware of human events, though, or to conceptualize much that a human could. I only found out the other day that Arthur was the Minister, and that was from Fawkes. Anyway, it was really amazing, a really unusual experience. I understand the phoenixes and their culture even better than I did before. I spent some time poking around the spiritual realm, which I'm pretty sure I can now do as a human, which I really couldn't before. I talked to Albus a bit. He was going to stay where he was, in the in-between place, so he could talk to me, but we decided that he would move on, since I'd be able to talk to him there as well. It was a great experience." He looked around, and smiled. "But what's even better is being back here. After all that time as a phoenix, I'm really happy to be a human again, and you guys are the reason. I missed all of you while I was gone."

The others smiled, and Molly sniffled. "Thank you, dear. We missed you, too." Hermione sent that she missed him as well, and they looked at each other in surprise.

"What?" asked Ginny.

"Our mental link is... different," said Harry.

"Less strong," agreed Hermione. "Flora told me she thought that might happen, but she wasn't sure. There was an aspect of the link that had to do with our physical bodies, even though it's basically mental in nature. Since Harry has a different body, that part has changed, kind of like the scar. We still have the link, we can still communicate anything we want to, but I think what this means is that we won't communicate by accident anymore. No more unintentional sending." She paused, and added to Harry, "Which I can't say disappoints me, and I'm sure you feel the same way."

He nodded. "You knew I would, of course. We both always knew that it was an unavoidable consequence of the bonding that Fawkes and Flora did with us before we went into the Ring, but we both knew that it was annoying at times. I think you know that I don't take it personally that you're happy not to receive my feelings that I don't intend to send."

"Well, then there's two good things to come out of this," commented Neville. "There should be, since it was such a problem in other ways."

Arthur appeared to be debating something internally, and he spoke. "Harry, I don't know if you'll be willing to answer this or not, but this has been bothering me, and I'd really like to know, if you'll tell me. You may or may not know that I won the Choosing in very unusual circumstances; it may have been the case that someone else with your power tilted it to me. Things have been all right since Drake was caught; a majority have approved of my conduct as Minister since that happened, but I can never shake the idea that I somehow didn't deserve it, or shouldn't have had it. I think it would set my mind at ease to at least know how it happened, if you can tell me."

Harry nodded. "Just a minute." He concentrated, and as he had expected, with a little focus was able to mentally access the 'wavelength' of phoenix communications; he could communicate as if he were currently a phoenix. He sought out Luna, found her, and exchanged impressions. After a minute, he told her he would see her soon physically, and turned his attention back to the others.

"Okay, I've been authorized to give you certain answers, and they're to go no further than this room," he began. "There are two others like me. One has lived for hundreds of years, mostly as a phoenix." He almost identified the First as Tibetan, but realized just in time that it was known that Luna had been to Tibet recently, and the connection wouldn't be difficult to make.

"The other... I'm going to refer to as 'he'; it could be male or female, but just so I don't have to keep saying 'he or she', I'm just going to say 'he' all the time, for convenience. He's British, he participated in the Choosing, but didn't realize that he would have such a strong influence. He feels badly, Arthur, that what happened made you feel like you do, which is why he's willing to let me tell you this much. More than anything else, he doesn't want to be known. I can't say I blame him. He's extremely wary of using his power, even more than I am. Needless to say, he intends never to participate in a Choosing again, if there is one. More than that, I'm not allowed to tell you, but I think that should be enough."

"Yes, it is," said Arthur. "Thank you, Harry, and please convey my thanks to whoever this is. I do feel a bit better knowing. I just hated having this mystery hanging over me."

"Is it someone we know?" asked Ron. Hermione shot him a glare.

"I'm sorry, Ron, but I can't play 'Twenty Questions' with this," said Harry. "He could have insisted that I tell Arthur privately, but he didn't. I do know that he would hope that you wouldn't even speculate on who it is. I can't even tell Ginny, and I wouldn't even know myself if it weren't for the fact that I'm a phoenix, and so have to know."

"I assume the other one was never known, even around the time when he was born?" wondered Pansy.

"No, no one ever knew," confirmed Harry. "I mean, you all know that if it wasn't for the fact that it was how I defeated Voldemort, I probably wouldn't have made it public either. Sometimes I still regret letting it be known." He glanced at Ginny and James. "Like when it brings danger to my wife and child, and I'm not there to protect them."

Ginny squeezed him around the shoulders. "You were there as much as you could be," she assured him. "You saved James, as much as Dobby did."

"At much less of a cost," he said somberly. "That reminds me, I'm going to want to make the rounds, say hello to people. What day is it? What time?"

"December nineteenth, about a quarter after six in the evening," said Hermione.

"A Thursday."

He nodded. "I can do a few tonight, and the rest tomorrow, like the Hogwarts teachers. Do you think I should teach my classes tomorrow, or wait until after vacation?" he asked Hermione.

"You should wait; Arthur and I have an idea about that. Well, it was really Archibald's idea, but we like it. You see, Arthur still hasn't appointed a twelfth governor, and he's been taking some criticism for it. What we want you to do, when you give an interview to the Prophet tomorrow, is when they ask you about going back to Hogwarts, tell them you're not sure what you're going to do. Tell them that you can't see yourself returning to Hogwarts while these particular governors are in place--"

"That shouldn't be too hard," Harry muttered. "I couldn't believe they were going to try to put Umbridge back in there. You did a very good job fending that off, by the way."

"Thanks. Anyway, the parents will be demanding the removal of the governors the next day, and that'll give Arthur the political cover he needs to disband the governors. He can do it anyway, but it would normally be a very controversial thing to do."

"I told Archibald last month that I was going to do it," put in Arthur, "and he asked me to wait, then came up with this plan. Normally, I wouldn't want to ask for your help, but this really rings true, after the governors tried to abet a Ministry takeover of Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "Of course, Arthur. You shouldn't hesitate to ask anything of me, it's my fault that you have this job. I'll do anything I can to help, even if it's something I wouldn't normally do."

"Well, it's not as though I go around blaming you every day for the fact that I have the job," said Arthur humorously. "But I appreciate it, and I'll keep it in mind."

"Is everything going okay at the Ministry?" asked Harry. "And how about the Muggle world?"

"At the Ministry, fine," replied Arthur. "I've settled in, and by now, I'm sort of used to being Minister. I have a little more work than most Ministers, because I decided to also remain head of the Muggle Liaison office. I can't think of anyone I trust enough to do the job, since I think it's important. I asked Remus, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice the time he works with the werewolf foundation, and I could understand that. I asked Bill, but he doesn't want to work for the Ministry--small wonder--and there would be the nepotism issue. So, I just get a briefing from Dudley or Colin every day.

"Which brings me to the Muggles... after we caught Drake, the one who did all this, we were able to get the Persian and American wizards to intervene and pull their countries back from the war. They didn't want to, because they felt that it was something that each country chose to a certain extent, but they eventually recognized that it wouldn't have happened without wizards, and it could go on to substantially influence other Muggle events if it wasn't stopped. After the American president was killed by Drake, the American wizards influenced the vice-president--the one who launched the nuclear missiles against North Korea, did you know about that?"

Harry just nodded; Luna's misery had been known throughout the phoenix world.

"They influenced him to choose a moderate, anti-war senator from his party as his vice-president, then resign. Without any help from the wizards, fortunately, the new president went about repairing America's standing with the rest of the world, negotiating a cease-fire with Iran--he and the Ayatollah both got credit, as did Barclay--and setting a timetable for getting America out of Iraq. After that, with Barclay's help, he was able to get other countries to call off their economic war against America. The International Confederation of Wizards agreed to put mild Suggestion Charms on the leaders of their countries to lean in the direction of conciliation with America, though we think some didn't really do it. International public opinion is still strongly anti-American, but aside from providing proof that the Americans had every reason to believe nuclear weapons had been fired at South Korea--one of the North's military leaders who survived testified that the order to use nuclear weapons was given--there wasn't much we could do about that. Or, should do, some said; many felt that America had made its own bed, and didn't deserve that much help. Also, the American president pledged a large amount of money to help radiation cleanup and reconstruction in North Korea, and the American wizards will put what pressure they need to on Congress to get it to pass. After that, the American wizards say, their interfering is done. Although, I should say, the radiation damage isn't nearly as bad as was feared; I strongly suspect that this person who doesn't want to be known did something to get rid of the worst effects of it. A lot of the North Korean Dark wizards were killed in the explosions, as were about eighty thousand Muggles, and ten thousand died in the aftermath. The North Korean government collapsed, and some of the former officials of that government are negotiating a merger with the South. So that could end up well, at least. Overall, we cleaned it up as best we could, but the Muggles will have to do the rest by themselves."

Harry nodded. "I suppose it could be worse. It obviously would have been, if not for your keeping such close track of Muggle events."

"Which has been recognized by the Prophet, at least," said Arthur. "Of course, the Prophet tends to tilt towards whoever's in the Minister's office, but I was still glad to see Muggle events getting more publicity. Oh, and in view of all this, Hermione and I had another thought for the Hogwarts curriculum."

Harry looked at Hermione inquiringly. "Muggle Studies," she explained. "It would be up to you, but we thought it might be a good idea to start it from first year, and make it mandatory."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "John would like that," he mused. "Parents might not, but I suppose they'd live with it. I'll think about it, but it sounds like a good idea."

"Maybe it could start next year," agreed Hermione. "Considering what just happened, the timing would be pretty good. One thing we know for sure after all this is that we need to pay better attention to the Muggle world."

"Are you hungry, Harry?" asked Molly. "It seems strange to think that that body has never had human food before."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know how that whole thing works, but yes, I could definitely eat."

"Good. I spent a lot of the afternoon cooking, with Ginny's help, and it's out there under a warming charm. You shouldn't eat too much, though, give your new body a chance to get used to it."

They got up and headed for the kitchen, Harry carrying James. He stopped, reached for Ginny, and kissed her. "It's good to be back," he whispered. She smiled, kissed him, and led him to the kitchen.

* * * * *

Three hours later, Harry knocked on the door of Snape's quarters. The door opened, and Snape stood. "Yes, I thought you might be coming by," he said, extending a hand. "Welcome back."

Smiling, Harry shook it. "Thank you, Professor."

Snape appeared slightly uneasy while trying to appear casual. "From now on, please call me Severus." Harry's eyes went wide, and Snape's expression was between a smile and a smirk. "I knew there would be some sort of reaction. You really should work more on masking your emotions."

"Then you couldn't make fun of me about it, could you?" Harry rejoined.

Snape gestured him to a chair. "As others have pointed out, there is still plenty to make fun of you about. I am hardly worried about that changing."

"So, I assume this is Ginny's influence?" Harry asked as he sat.

"Not one of your most insightful comments, but yes," replied Snape, who gave off the air of someone getting something over with. "It could hardly be anything else. Were you aware of this when you were a phoenix?"

"Basically, yes. I knew that she was concerned about you, and that she was going to try to help you. I'm glad it's been helpful."

"So far, so good," allowed Snape. "I still have not asked anyone out, which I know is what she hopes will happen, even though she has not said as much. But I have been able to be of assistance to Hugo, which is a worthwhile purpose."

"How's he doing?" asked Harry, concerned.

"He is not as fully recovered as he will be, but he has made it much of the way back," said Snape. "He can go for longer periods of time without thinking about his experience, and the conditioning is almost gone. He still suffers from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, which was inevitable, and will hopefully fade with time. He stayed at your home for three weeks, then slowly spent more and more time in his own apartment, which now for all practical purposes is quite safe, though it was difficult for him to think of it as such."

"I could make it extremely safe," offered Harry.

Snape nodded, obviously having expected Harry's suggestion. "We knew that you would make such an offer, of course. He decided that he would not take you up on it, that he needs to live in the real world, with all its unpredictability. The thought was, naturally, extremely tempting for him. When you talk to him, I urge you not to explicitly make the offer, as it would simply task his willpower."

Harry wished Hugo would take him up on it, but he could understand the reasoning. "All right. I am going to keep an eye on him, though, without his knowledge."

"Harry," Snape said sharply. More quietly, he said, "He will be all right. He is under no threat, and very few people know what happened to him. Anyone who knows him will simply think that he came back from his world travel early. That will be good for him; what he does not need is people acting toward him with an overabundance of sympathy, however well-meaning."

Harry got Snape's message very clearly. "I'll be sure to mention that to anyone who I think might do that," he said, deadpan.

"Yes, please do," responded Snape in kind. "In any case, he is improving, and his mental health will eventually be good, if not perfect. By the way, I am curious... do you know how long he was with the phoenixes? He does not remember."

"Let me ask them..." Harry reached out to the phoenixes with his mind, and smiled. "They're amused by our preoccupation with time."

Snape briefly rolled his eyes. "It is easy for them to be amused; they do not have to keep appointments."

"They're showing me by using the arc of the sun in the sky... wow, it looks like about a half an hour."

Snape's eyebrows rose. "Quite a long time; with you, it was less than a minute. Of course, his condition was desperate."

"I'm glad they were able to help him, and that you were, as well." Snape waved him off. "They tell me you were publicly known as the one who captured Drake. How has that affected you, and your life?"

Snape grunted in annoyance. "Taking credit for the capture, which Hugo greatly appreciated my doing, was the one thing about this that I would truly rather have avoided. You know very well that I do not care about my public image. Arthur apologetically offered me an Order of Merlin, first class, knowing I would decline it but explaining that it would look bad politically if he did not at least offer it. I avoided appearing in public as much as possible, though at Ginny's urging, I behaved tolerantly toward those who approached me to praise my actions. I naturally had to endure a fair bit of jesting in the staff room, about which I was slightly less tolerant. And I tolerated nothing from the students, whose attention I quickly redirected toward their work."

"Why are you so resistant to praise?" wondered Harry. Instantly it occurred to him that Snape might feel so conscience-stricken over his actions earlier in life that he felt he deserved no praise of any sort, regardless of what he accomplished.

Snape gave Harry a warning glance. "Ginny is attempting to work with me on that. I do not need you to do so as well."

Harry knew he shouldn't say it, but he couldn't resist. "Well, at least this'll help if you ever do decide to ask someone out--"

Snape quickly leaned forward and pointed at Harry sharply. "Don't--"

Harry quickly held up his hands in surrender. "I'll never say anything like that again, I promise," he assured Snape. Wow, he's sensitive, thought Harry.

Snape slowly relaxed, and sat back in his chair. "This is why I talk to Ginny and not you," he said disdainfully. "She knows better than to say such things. I must do this at my own pace."

"I didn't mean to criticize," said Harry, slightly defensively.

"I know. You simply need to be more selective regarding which of your thoughts you vocalize. Of course, this has always been a problem for you." A tiny smile came to Snape's face. "Perhaps you should have Ginny work on it with you."

Harry smiled. "Probably not a bad idea." Same old Snape, he thought. Different, but in many ways, the same.

* * * * *

Harry made the rounds of the teachers' quarters, visiting each for ten or fifteen minutes. He visited John last; John didn't live at Hogwarts, but Harry had been to his home before, and knew where it was. He knocked on the front door, John welcomed him back, and they talked for a few minutes.

"Harry," said John nervously, "there's something I'd like to talk to you about, but I'd also like Hermione and Arthur here. Can you arrange that?"

"Sure," he said, surprised. Harry communicated with Fawkes and Flora, and their puzzled companions arrived shortly.

"Thanks for coming, I know it's a bit late," said John. "There's something I've been wanting to tell someone about for a while, but I wanted to tell you three first. I want this to go no further than you three right now."

They all nodded. "What is it?" asked Arthur.

Without a word, John gestured to a small, red rubber ball on a stand in his living room. It flew into his hand. He took in the others' stunned expressions in stride. "Yes, that's kind of how I felt. And no, I've checked my genealogy, and I'm sure there are no wizards. This is from practicing the energy of love with you, Harry. This means that a Muggle--presumably, any Muggle--can become a wizard."

Harry, Hermione, and Arthur were still silent for a minute. "The repercussions of this could be... staggering," managed Arthur. "Who knows about this?"

"Only my wife--she's out, by the way--and I. I've actually been a little paranoid that in all this terror, we'd both somehow get killed, and this information would be lost. On the one hand, it's so explosive that I want as few people to know about it as possible, but on the other hand, we need to not lose information like this. I'm wondering what you all think of this."

"Where to start," said a stunned Hermione. "First of all, you were right not to tell anyone. This can't be widely known, even in the wizarding world because it would get out to the Muggle world, through those wizarding websites."

"Which, by the way, Harry, I need to have a talk with you about," added Arthur gravely. "I'm going to ask you to do something you're not going to want to do with your power, but I've thought it over and I truly think it's necessary. Those websites have nearly exposed us more than once, and limited our freedom of action."

Harry knew what Arthur was asking, and Arthur was right, he didn't want to, but he knew that he would likely end up doing what Arthur asked. "We'll talk about it," he assured Arthur.

Arthur nodded. "But yes, I agree with Hermione. If the wizarding world were ever exposed, and this information as well, it could precipitate a global war; it would be like Trent's 'beware the energy of love' thing writ large. But the possible good this could do is enormous. This should be acted on, but it has to be handled exactly right."

"Fortunately, we have a Minister who will do that," said John; Arthur smiled in embarrassment. "I've had time to think about this, of course. I think we should start gathering a group of Muggles, maybe British ones to start with, who already have an interest in spirituality. We reveal the existence of magic, put them under Forgetfulness spells, tell them my story, and imbue them with confidence--not magically--that they can do what I did. If it starts to work, we can do it more and more. But to do it quietly is going to take a long time. It could take centuries."

Hermione put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "There's one of us who could possibly be around for centuries."

"I haven't decided that yet," he said quietly.

"I know," she said, equally quietly. "This is just something to think about. Living for centuries just for the sake of it is one thing; I'm not sure I'd want it either. But doing it with a good purpose in mind... well, like I said, it's something to think about."

He found he couldn't seriously contemplate it right there and then. Maybe this is the way Snape feels about dating, thought Harry; he doesn't want to be pushed. I should understand stuff like that better. "I think your idea is a good one, John," agreed Harry. "Arthur, any ideas on how it should be done? Through the Ministry, or privately?"

Arthur thought for a few seconds. "Maybe both. Colin and Dudley could handle the logistics of it, but it wouldn't be an official Ministry project. Fortunately, people still don't pay a lot of attention to what they do. I'll talk to them about it. Don't worry, I'll impress the need for secrecy extremely strongly."

John nodded. "That's very important. I want someone, and you'd be best, Arthur, to keep track of exactly who knows this. No one should know it who doesn't need to. I'm not only concerned about Muggle reaction, but I think some wizards wouldn't be keen on it, either. You know, the type who sneer at non-pure-bloods. They like to feel special because they're wizards, and pure-blood. If they knew there was a plan to increase the number of wizards, it might make them feel less special, and they might resist."

"There are all kinds of possible ramifications," agreed Hermione. "We should all sleep on this for a few days, maybe start doing something after the new year. We should go slow with this."

"Agreed," said John. "Look how long it took for me to tell anyone except my wife. It's not every day someone discovers something that will change the course of human history."

* * * * *

Harry had one more person he wanted to meet before calling it a night. He mentally sought out Luna through the phoenix communication channels, and they agreed to meet at the phoenix gathering place. She stopped time for everywhere but the island they were on, walked up to him, and hugged him. "It's good to see you again," she said, squeezing him.

He patted her back. "You, too." They sat near the stream. Phoenixes perched in trees, flew around, and occasionally sang. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

She nodded, understanding his point. "It's part of our spiritual growth," she said philosophically. "And that's never fun. Ginny would know that, right now."

"I suppose she would," he agreed. "It's been pretty hard for her. But for Dobby, it would have been crushing."

She nodded somberly, then forced herself to meet his eyes. "I could have saved James," she said simply. "I didn't."

He became equally somber. "I didn't know at the time this had happened to you; you hadn't become a phoenix yet. If I had known, I would have pleaded with you to save him. But having lived with this for a while, I can understand why you didn't. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision."

She shuddered. "You have no idea. I had just seen him earlier that day, and he's such a sweetie, you couldn't help but love him. That just made it harder. I feel like I want to spend an hour explaining myself to you, because I feel guilty."

"You shouldn't--"

"I know, but I do anyway. I'll get over it; it helps a lot that he lived. I just wanted to get that out of the way and tell you that, so I didn't have to think about it, which I've done a lot. I'm sorry I won't let you tell Ginny about me. It's partly the principle of limiting the knowledge--you, my father, Colin, and Snape are the only four that know--but I admit that I don't think I could look her in the eye, with her knowing what I didn't do and what it almost cost her. You can understand it; I'm not sure she could. You and I have both sat on a floor and cried over people we could have saved, but didn't. I think that does something to a person. The First tried to warn me."

"I don't agree with the First," said Harry. "I'd rather live among the people I love, use my power when I think I should, and accept the fact that I'll suffer sometimes for not using it. I don't want to live in isolation from humanity."

"I can understand that. But I think he'd say, come and talk to me when you've lived a few centuries. I don't think he decided to retreat right away. We don't know all of what he's been through."

"I wasn't judging him," Harry hastened to point out. "I just don't agree with him. He would have me not use my power at all, even to save people I cared about."

"If our situations had been reversed... if I was stuck as a phoenix, my baby was about to die, you'd save him." He saw the pain in her eyes.

"Yes, I would. But honestly, I understand the argument for not doing it. It's a reasonable argument, probably better spiritually. If you really understand the spiritual realm, then you don't have to feel bad for anyone who dies; they're going home, to the place where things are easy and peaceful. And I understand that this gave Ginny a spiritual growth experience she wouldn't otherwise have had. I know all that. But I think of what Albus used to say, that for this kind of situation there's no right or wrong; we just have to make a choice. Saving someone in that situation is the choice I would make. Maybe I'm being selfish by taking away someone's opportunity for spiritual growth. But I just have to do what I can live with." With just a hint of humor, he added, "I suppose the people close to me are going to have to get their spiritual growth some other time."

"Or wait for you to be turned into a phoenix again," she agreed. "I've actually been coming around to your point of view on this, since the Korean thing. The First spoke very eloquently when I was going to save James, and very convincingly. But as time has passed, there's one thing that I keep coming back to, and I can never come up with an answer for it: how can I be who I want to be, who I see myself as, if I have to repress my urge to save people when I can? I feel like it makes me a different person, and I don't like that person. I can't be that person, at least not yet. Maybe I'll be able to, after two centuries. But it's going to happen when it happens, and I'm not going to force it. I have to be who I am right now."

"I don't think the First would begrudge you that," said Harry. "I just think he wanted you to see the whole picture. He's entitled to his opinion, just like we're entitled to ours. By the way, I just talked to John. He was taking an energy-of-love class, and now all of a sudden he can use magic."

She nodded, not as surprised as he had been. "I had wondered if that was possible, actually. You discovered with the energy of love that magic comes from the spiritual realm, that the energy of love is just a shortcut to that. Wizards have a built-in connection to that, but we're the same species as Muggles are. It makes sense that even if they don't have it built-in, they can learn to access it with training and practice. A few people are born with the ability to see the spiritual realm, while most have to learn it. Magic shouldn't be that much different. What are you going to do about it?"

"Recruit some Muggles, see if we can teach them like I taught John. Hermione was saying it could take centuries, and I was wondering if you'd thought about whether you're going to live that long or not."

She shook her head. "I have no idea. You?"

"I don't like to think about it, probably because I don't like the idea of outliving everyone I'm close to."

"And, just your luck, you're close to a lot of people," she agreed. "Well, at least I would still be around, for whatever that's worth."

He reached out and took her hand. "It's worth a lot," he said, meeting her eyes.

She nodded and squeezed his hand. In that instant, she wondered--and she was somehow sure he did as well--whether after everyone close to both of them had died, they might both have Burning days and start a new life with each other as partners. They would then at least be spared having to watch their spouse die, if they wanted to live for a longer time among humans. But that could wait for the distant future, she knew, and she knew he knew. She loved Colin, and he loved Ginny. Live one life at a time, she thought.

"Thanks," she said, and let go of his hand.

"What are you going to do now, for a job?"

"It's not like I need one," she pointed out.

"That's true," he agreed. "I suppose you've discovered that you can conjure permanent things."

Her eyebrows rose. "No, I didn't know that. You've been keeping it a secret." She paused. "Very understandably."

He smiled. "I thought so. No, money's no problem. After what happened, I've decided to conjure a few hundred thousand Galleons' worth of gold and bury it under the house, for emergencies, like if I ever get stuck as a phoenix again. Not that it's likely. No, I didn't mean a job for financial reasons, but for something to do, some useful way of spending your time."

She gave him a small smile. "Did you have any ideas?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

* * * * *

The next day, after breakfast, Harry went to Hogwarts. He wanted to talk to the students, but reluctantly waited to do so, in deference to Arthur and Hermione's wishes regarding the governors. He would, however, talk to those he knew could keep secrets.

He walked into the Hogwarts kitchens at a little after nine a.m. Gasps went up, and house-elves came scurrying around from all parts of the large kitchen; soon, he had their undivided attention. "Hello," he said. "I'm not officially back yet, so please don't tell anyone I visited here. But I wanted to talk to you all. I wanted to tell you how proud I was of Dobby, and how much Ginny and I miss him. He was a wonderful being."

The house-elves started chattering among themselves, and one stepped forward. "Harry Potter," he said nervously, "My name is Elly. Of course, house-elves has been talking about Dobby for a long time. Headmistress Hermione Granger said almost the same thing as Harry Potter just said. Dobby was strange, but now we thinks Dobby was a great house-elf. The mark of a great house-elf is that he would give his life to protect his masters. Dobby did that."

"We weren't his masters," said Harry earnestly. "We were his employers. He didn't do it because we were his masters; he did it because he loved us, and we loved him."

"We knows that, of course," agreed Elly. "We is just used to thinking of humans as masters. But Hermione Granger showed us what happened. We saw Ginny Potter cry over Dobby, we saw Harry Potter as a phoenix cry over Dobby. That was very powerful for us. House-elves is not used to thinking differently, but we has been talking about that. Some of us sees another way, that we can be... employees," he shuddered slightly, "and still be good house-elves. Dobby showed us how." Elly seemed to gather his courage. "Elly would be honored to become Harry Potter's house-elf, and would even... accept salary and wear clothes. Many house-elves here would do the same."

Harry was touched, but he had something else in mind. "Thank you very much, Elly. I appreciate that. But I want to know... is Winky here?"

Wearing an apron, she quickly walked forward. "Yes, Harry Potter?" she asked eagerly.

"I want to show all of you, and all of house-elf society, that there's nothing shameful about having been dismissed by a master, especially wrongly as Winky was. Winky, will you accept employment with me, and be the house-elf for my family, and for the Burrow, as Dobby was?"

"Oh, Harry Potter! Winky would be honored!" She rushed forward and hugged one of his legs.

He gently pried her loose, and crouched down to look at her at eye level. "Will you accept eighty Galleons a month, and eight days off a month?"

She looked horrified. "Oh, Harry Potter, no! Please, please, only the same terms as Dobby had! Winky begs you!"

Harry had been prepared to be firm, but found it hard to be resolute in the face of begging. He sighed. "The same terms as Dobby, but a five-Galleon-a-month raise every year."

"Two Galleons a month," she countered.

"Three," he insisted.

"Harry Potter drives a hard bargain," she admonished him. "But Winky accepts. Winky is very happy." Many of the other house-elves started applauding; Harry assumed it was for Winky's good fortune. If Dobby is watching this, Harry thought, he'll be happy to know that his death helped cause some of the change he had always wanted while he lived. He would be happy about that, and happy for Winky.

* * * * *

The next evening, Harry teleported into the living room. Ginny was on the sofa reading, and James was on the floor, playing with the puppy. Harry leaned down, patted James on the head, and sat next to Ginny.

She smiled, and kissed him. "So, how did it go?"

"A little better than dinners with Vernon and Petunia usually go," he conceded. "It was pretty unusual. I'd been there for a half hour, Dudley and I had been talking with Vernon, Petunia was in the kitchen most of the time. The doorbell rang, and Dudley got Vernon to answer it. Dudley had arranged this, but hadn't told Vernon or Petunia. It was Kenneth Barclay, the Muggle Prime Minister."

Ginny smiled. "Were they impressed?"

"That would be putting it very mildly," he assured her. "Remember five years ago, they were impressed just to see a picture of me shaking hands with him. To them, status is everything, so to have the Prime Minister in their home was pretty much the greatest honor they could possibly have. They fell all over themselves welcoming him, and complained at Dudley for not telling them, while at the same time proud of Dudley for the association. I assume you know that Dudley and Colin have been giving Barclay briefings on developments in the magical world as it affects the Muggles." Ginny nodded. "So anyway, Barclay looks at me, and I can see the worry on Vernon and Petunia's faces, like I'm the black sheep they didn't want in the house with such an esteemed guest there. But Barclay greets me in a very friendly way, a little like an old friend--politicians are pretty good at doing that--and reminds Vernon and Petunia that he knows about magic, and he knows they know, since I grew up there, and they must be proud to have raised two such distinguished boys. I can see the realizations on Vernon and Petunia's faces; they're not thrilled to be associated with magic, but they see that Barclay doesn't hold it against them, and since he was friendly with me, they don't have to act like they're ashamed of me. Vernon was like, 'oh, yes indeed,' and I could tell they really wanted to say something like, 'Dudley's the really good one,' but they know how it would sound, and they didn't."

She shook her head. "I still don't know why you go over there."

"Like I've said, I think it's so my head doesn't get too big. I don't know. Anyway, Barclay said I looked just the same as when he saw me five years ago; I explained the phoenix-aging thing, which he was pretty fascinated by, and asked a few questions. Vernon started asking Barclay about Dudley's job; Dudley had clearly told Barclay what he should and shouldn't say, so Barclay just said that it was high-level work, important to the international situation, and that Dudley was indispensable. It was funny to watch, Vernon and Petunia were just about to explode with pride. Barclay also happened to mention during dinner that Dudley had single-handedly stopped a terrorist attack in October, saving lives."

Ginny chuckled. "Which is true, really."

"Yes, it is. They harassed Dudley for not telling them. I got the feeling Dudley wished Barclay hadn't said that. Dudley arranged it more as a favor to his parents, like an early Christmas gift, knowing how much they'd enjoy it, but it also raised his status in their eyes to... well..."

"The kind of status you have in the wizarding world," she teased him.

"Something like that, yes," he conceded. "Barclay also asked me during dinner about my status over the past few months; he was fascinated by my telling him about the phoenix group consciousness. Vernon and Petunia were sort of interested, and they let Barclay talk about what he wanted, but it was easy to see they kept wanting the subject to go back to Dudley. It wasn't out of rudeness to me, but just that they knew that he was probably only coming once, and this was their only chance to talk to him about Dudley. Another interesting thing happened: shortly after Barclay came by, I offered to leave, saying I hadn't planned to stay for dinner anyway, but Dudley just wanted me to be able to meet the Prime Minister again. I was offering mainly because I wanted them to be able to focus on Dudley with Barclay there, which I knew they'd want to do. But Vernon said I should stay, and I could tell that it wasn't just something he was saying to look better in front of Barclay, but that he really meant it. So it seems that while in their eyes at that time I wasn't at the same lofty height as Dudley, they regard me enough to have me around in that kind of situation, which is saying a lot, for them. It may not seem like much, but it would have never happened five years ago."

She patted him on the knee. "You know I always think you're too tolerant of them, considering how they used to treat you, and how hesitant they are even now to treat you the way you should be treated. But I'm glad it worked out all right. By the way, before I forget, Madeline Bright called in the fireplace an hour ago. I told her I'd tell you when you got back."

He nodded somberly. "I was going to visit her sometime soon, tell her how sorry I am about what happened to Rudolphus. I should probably go do that now, I'll be back soon."

He stood and teleported to the Brights' front door, and rang the bell. Madeline greeted him warmly, brought him inside, and they sat. She thanked him for coming; he said he'd intended to anyway. "You know what a good man, and good Minister, I've always thought your husband is," he said sincerely.

She gave him a sad smile. "Thank you for that, and especially, thank you for not speaking of him in the past tense. Many well-meaning people do, but the fact is, he's still alive." She paused. "Harry, I have a request to make of you, one which I pray you'll agree to. I know this has never been done before, but if anyone can do it, you can. I want you to try to bring him back."

Startled, he was silent for a minute. He was reluctant, but he saw the conviction and desperation in her eyes, and felt he should debate it internally rather than with her.

He sat back in his chair, remembering his exact position, and stopped time. He wanted to be able to think without subjecting her to the waiting.

He didn't even know for sure that he could do it, but he had to admit that he didn't know that he couldn't, either. The question was, should he? This got right to the same questions that the First had asked Luna to consider when she'd decided to save James from Lucius Malfoy. Was a greater spiritual agenda being served by Rudolphus Bright's madness? Was this something Madeline just had to go through, to learn lessons she couldn't otherwise learn? If Harry restored Rudolphus, would something similar just happen in another life, causing them to go through the torment all over again? Harry had been chagrined to discover, as a phoenix, that a substantial number of those he had saved on nine-eleven had died in the sarin gas attack, in an apparent effort to fulfill a destiny necessary for their spiritual growth. He took the question seriously. Would I try to undo this if it happened to Ginny? Of course. How about Dudley? Probably. Is it just a matter of how close I am to the person? Is that fair? I like Rudolphus, I think he's a good Minister, though he sometimes pays too much attention to the politics of something even when it's not really necessary, it's just his instinct. But he's a good man. Should that be my yardstick? I shouldn't do it if the person is a scoundrel?

Harry debated for another few minutes, then suddenly realized that he was just trying to talk himself into a decision he'd already made. He started time. "Okay. I'll try."

* * * * *

Harry and Madeline sat on either side of Rudolphus's bed at St. Mungo's; he had decided not to tell the St. Mungo's staff what he would try to do, since they would want to be the ones to make the decision, increasing Madeline's stress to no good purpose. He cast a spell on the room to make sure they weren't disturbed.

Madeline glanced at Frank and Alice Longbottom, a few beds away. "When I was thinking about asking you this, I wondered why you haven't tried this on them."

"I thought about it, soon after I got this power, but they told me it wouldn't be possible because there had been years of atrophy in the brain. Even if I could have brought them back, there would have been any of a number of problems, such as possibly severe retardation, emotional difficulties, and so forth. I told Neville I was willing to try anyway; he asked me to talk to his parents the next time I talked to Albus. I did, and they said that I shouldn't try. But for Rudolphus, I have a feeling he would want me to try."

"I'm certain of that," she agreed. "Are you going to do the same thing you did with Snape?"

"Kind of, but I can do it much more precisely now. I can undo the physical damage, and at least some of the mental damage. The big question is whether he will come back or not. And even if he does, there are still a lot of unknowns in this," he warned her. "There will almost certainly be emotional problems. It may take years for him to be the person he was; he may never be exactly that."

She nodded. "I understand that, Harry. I just want my husband back, in whatever way I can have him. I know the risks."

"Okay," he agreed. He scanned Bright's mind, and began applying love to only those areas damaged by the Cruciatus Curse.

It was two hours later, one and a half hours since he had finished doing what he could do. Soon after that, he had become a phoenix, using the connection to the spiritual realm to see if he could contact Rudolphus. He had called Ginny on his hand to tell her what was happening, and now, they were waiting.

Harry had talked with her a little, bringing up different subjects to pass the time. He asked her, "Madeline, do you know Anne Trent?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

"I heard about what happened, with their son, at the end of the Choosing. I was wondering how she was doing."

Madeline shook her head sadly. "She's staying with relatives; I talked to her a few weeks ago. She actually said she envied me, and I could tell she meant it. She said that at least I had a husband who would never do what hers had done. She's a good person. She did have a... moral failing; I suppose most of us do. Hers was that she overlooked what her husband did, most of the time. Finally she did look, and this was what happened. What Trent did surprised me a little, just because of how shocking it was, but not that much. Rudolphus had told me stories for years about the way Trent behaved at the Ministry, petty little things that really told the story about the kind of person he was. Rudolphus even said once, if anything ever happens to me, we're in trouble, because Trent taking over would be very bad. He apparently treated low-level employees rather badly, like they were nothing."

"My godfather, Sirius Black, once said that the true measure of a man is how he treats those beneath him, those who don't have the power to fight back."

"Your godfather knew what he was talking about," she agreed. "A couple of times--I probably shouldn't have done this--I asked a Prophet reporter to interview a few low-level people who had contact with my husband. They were guaranteed anonymity, he asked them for any 'dirt' on Rudolphus. They just said that he treated them fairly and well. I could have guessed it, but it's somehow better to know it for sure. This isn't to say I blame Anne Trent; like I said, we all have our weaknesses. But what he did was probably more of a surprise to her than it was to many in the political world."

Harry had discovered that Trent had, a few weeks before, reached an agreement with the Ministry in which he would be released from prison and leave the country, the charges suspended on the condition that he never returned to Britain. Some of the red substance used to identify Voldemort had been absorbed into his skin, so the Ministry could know immediately if he ever returned. "I wish there was something I could do for her, but I don't think there is," said Harry. "Do you know the situation with their son?"

"His wife is divorcing him," said Madeline. "He's not going to have much of a life from this point on; you know how homosexuals are considered."

"I know. I thought I would talk to him, suggest that he get out of England, maybe move to someplace like San Francisco, where that kind of thing is more acceptable. He might get public support in a place like that."

"I don't think he has the means to move, to get a place," said Madeline. "His wife is probably going to get most of their money, because the divorce will be considered to be his fault."

Harry nodded, and said nothing more about it. He decided that he would help Paul, conjure him some money if it seemed necessary. He had done nothing wrong. Well, he had married someone under false pretenses, but he had been doing what society expected, in fact, demanded of him. That might be a moral weakness, Harry thought, but as moral weaknesses went, there were much bigger ones.

Rudolphus's eyes blinked, then opened slightly. Madeline's eyes went wide; she grabbed his hand. "Darling!" she exclaimed, touching his face. "Are you there?"

"Mad..." He tried to speak, but trailed off. Delighted and concerned at the same time, she looked at Harry. He did Legilimens, getting Bright's most recent memories.

Harry smiled. "He's there. He's very disoriented right now, which isn't surprising. I'm going to put him under the Imperius Charm, to encourage him to get better using what resources he has himself."

Bright's eyes opened wide, and Harry could tell his mind was much clearer. "Welcome back, Rudolphus."

"Harry? Madeline?" He looked around the room. "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Harry.

"I went to bed, and now, I'm here. What's going on?"

"I covered it up with a Memory Charm," Harry explained to Madeline. "The memory is pretty traumatic, and I didn't want him to have to deal with it as soon as he came back. Now that he's under the Imperius Charm, it's safe, I can let him remember."

Harry lifted the Memory Charm, and saw the realization come to Bright's face. "That bastard," said Bright. "Was he caught?"

Harry nodded. "Snape caught him."

"I'm going to give Snape a big, wet kiss on the lips."

"I'll be sure to tell him," laughed Harry, looking forward to it.

"Brantell... is he okay?"

"He's okay." Harry reminded himself to tell Madeline later about the secrecy of that information.

Bright looked at his wife. "Madeline. How long has it been?"

She beamed. "Two months."

"Two months?" He turned to Harry. "Who's Minister?"

"Arthur Weasley."

Bright paused, trying to process what Harry had said. He turned to his wife and said, "It sounded like he just said Arthur Weasley was Minister."

She laughed. "He is."

"I see." He paused, staring at Harry for several seconds. "So, it seems you've given up the pretense of not using your powers, and are just completely controlling society now." Harry smiled; Bright continued, "Because that's the only way Arthur Weasley becomes Minister."

He doesn't know how close he is to being right, thought Harry. "It's a long story," he said. "I wasn't here for most of it, but Madeline will tell you all about it."

She nodded, then asked Harry, "Are you keeping that spell on him? What's the plan?"

"Using his brain like he is right now is good for him, it'll help his recovery, along with the instructions I'm giving him with the Imperius Charm. I can't keep doing it indefinitely, obviously. After we're done, he'll go to sleep, then when he wakes up, we'll see how he's doing. Like I said, this may take a while."

"I'm just so thrilled to have him back. Thank you so much."

"You know, I'm not used to being talked about as though I weren't in the room."

"You should be used to it from me," she pointed out.

"Okay, that's true," he admitted. Turning to Harry, he added, "Seriously, I'd also like to thank you. You gave me my life back." Harry started to speak, but Bright cut him off. "I know, I could have problems when I'm not under this spell. I'll remember that. I know it won't be easy. But you've already done a lot." He reached for Harry's hand; Harry squeezed it, and let it go. As Madeline started telling her husband the story of the Choosing, Harry reflected that it would be difficult to say that he hadn't done the right thing.

* * * * *

Harry teleported into the bedroom at one a.m.; Ginny was lying in bed, still awake. "How did it go?"

"It looks like he's going to be all right, but it's too early to say for sure." He took off his robe, and lay under the covers next to her.

"My amazing man," she smiled, "bringing someone back from insanity. It's all in a day's work for Harry Potter."

"You just wait," he half-joked, "the Prophet will interpret this as a lack of confidence on my part in Arthur's leadership."

She laughed. "If Bright's ready in five years, I'm sure Dad would be happy to hand it over. He's still got one undersecretary position open; he could appoint Bright, even if he's not recovered, so that when the time comes he'd be eligible. Of course, Dad doing such a thing would be interpreted as a strong indication that he didn't intend to serve more than five years, and Archibald was always telling Dad he shouldn't say that, even though it was true. Archibald said that if you limit how long you might serve, you limit your own power unnecessarily."

Harry was amused to hear Ginny talking in a way she never would have three months ago. "I suppose your whole family got a crash course in politics."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess it shows. As soon as Dad's not Minister any more, I'll start trying to forget it all." She snuggled closer to him. "Of course, now I have something else to focus on."

"I'm glad," he said, and kissed her. They kissed for a minute, then he lay back, Ginny snuggled into his shoulder, occasionally reaching up to kiss him on the cheek.

"It's strange... I feel like I'm trying to catch up with everything that happened," he mused. "Hermione had her name dragged through the mud, what happened to Hugo, Snape... I even got a phoenix-feeling that something happened with Ron and Pansy, but I don't know what."

"They're fine," Ginny assured him. "I've talked to them both separately recently, and they're happy and going ahead with the wedding. It'll be the second Sunday of April, I forget what day that is."

"I'm really glad," he said. He got the feeling that there was something she wasn't telling him, but he supposed that not everything was his business. "And you, of course. You had a pretty rough time for a while there."

She reached her arm around his chest. "I did, but it all came out all right in the end. You were right, in that dream. It had to happen, so I could learn."

"What dream?"

She was surprised he didn't remember. "The dream you arranged, with Albus, for me the night after the attempt on James. You met me, in human form, in my dream."

Harry suddenly remembered, as a phoenix, Snape asking him if he had been connected to a dream she'd had. "I know this is going to seem strange, but I didn't arrange that dream. I had nothing to do with it."

"Of course you did," she insisted. "You just don't remember it."

"Believe me, I would remember. Can you tell me about it?"

She propped herself up in bed on her elbow, and started to tell him. She remembered it well after Snape had helped her. He listened with interest, and when she finished, he shook his head. "That was you, Ginny. Only you."

"How could I have a dream like that, with such specific information? You know how most dreams are, bizarre things are always happening. This wasn't like that."

"I don't mean I think it was a usual dream, just that I wasn't involved. I think that this was a very unusual dream, and the information was given by your... higher self, we could say. This was your way of telling yourself information you needed to know."

She paused, thinking. "Wow. It's hard to believe; I was sure all this time it was you. So that means it wasn't really Malfoy in the dream?"

He considered it. "Probably not, but I suppose it wouldn't be impossible; that kind of visitation does apparently happen sometimes. I'd say the important thing isn't whether it was really him or not, but just that having that encounter helped you get past what was bothering you."

She nodded. "I see what you mean. If it wasn't him, then it seems very much like what he might say, with the awareness of the spiritual realm. I suppose that in the long run it doesn't really matter. But why was the dream so specific about being arranged by you? Why pretend to be something other than a regular dream?"

"So you would take it seriously, and not just dismiss it as a regular dream."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, in that case, my higher self is clever, because it worked."

He rolled onto his side and put an arm around her. "All of you is clever."

"I must be, since I ended up with you." They kissed, and spent the next minute lost in each other's eyes, and love. The love I feel from the spiritual realm when I'm a phoenix is really good, he thought... but the love in her eyes is even better.

He was sure it always would be.

Epilogue

January 5, 2003

5:59 p.m.

Owls had been sent to the students days before, informing them that there would be a 'Welcome Back' feast to begin the second term, after winter holiday. Judging from a glance at the Great Hall, the owls had been heeded; it appeared to Hermione's eyes that there were no empty seats. Students were talking, but not at the loud volume she might have expected. No food was on the tables; all of the teachers were sitting at the teachers' table. Almost all, she corrected herself.

At six o'clock, she stood. "Welcome back to Hogwarts," she said loudly into the magical microphone. "I hope you all had excellent holidays; I certainly did. The first order of business is to introduce to you the headmaster--" Excited applause started on that word; she knew she had to finish quickly or be drowned out. "--Professor Harry Potter!"

Having earlier decided 'what the hell,' Harry made a splashier entrance than he usually would; he teleported to the podium, right behind Hermione. She turned and hugged him; they continued the hug for a few seconds before she let go of him and took her seat. He looked out into the crowd, which was still applauding and cheering heartily. He wondered if this would have been the reaction to his return in any case, or whether the applause was also motivated by students' worry after their parents read in the Prophet that he might not return if something wasn't done about the governors. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, the governors all submitted their resignations before Arthur had a chance to dismiss them. Arthur was now at work devising a new system for supervision of Hogwarts; he had assured Harry that it would be composed of parents only, and its power would be much less than the governors had. A Ministry takeover of Hogwarts would no longer be conceivable.

"Thank you," Harry shouted, but it still wasn't loud enough; he employed the 'please sit down' gesture he'd seen Albus use on similar occasions. Finally, the students became quieter, and he was able to speak.

"Thank you very much," he said, heartened by the support. "I'm sorry I haven't been around for a while, but I've been indisposed." The comment got a laugh, as Harry had hoped it would. I'll never be a standup comedian, he thought, but I should be able to get away with one joke.

"It's been a very busy time, and I want to comment on a few things that happened while I wasn't around. As you know, in October, some people at the Ministry of Magic tried to take over Hogwarts, to put it under Ministry control. That effort was defeated, and I want to thank the temporary headmistress, Hermione Granger, and the temporary deputy headmaster, Severus Snape, for their roles in accomplishing that." Prompted by Harry, the students applauded again. Hermione smiled and waved; Snape gave Harry a look whose meaning Harry easily interpreted as 'I'll get you back for this.' Harry smiled. I'm sure you will, he thought.

"I also want to thank you and your parents, whose pressure recently brought about the end of the Hogwarts governors, the group the Ministry used to try to take over. Hogwarts is now safe, and we have a Minister of Magic whose focus is not trying to take over things, but to take care of things. And I would say that even if he weren't my father-in-law." This got a moderate laugh. I shouldn't push my luck, he thought.

"I suppose all of you know that the wizard who caused most of the difficulty in the wizarding world, including getting me stuck as a phoenix for a while, also caused a lot of problems in the Muggle world. It's getting harder and harder to hide the wizarding world from Muggles, and I'm sure those of you who take Muggle Studies already know why. Partly because of what happened, Muggle Studies is going to become a more important class in the future." He would leave it vague for the time being, to put the idea into their heads. He didn't want to announce the change in status for Muggle Studies until May or June.

"I also want to recognize the loss of Derek Wilson, back in October, though I know there have already been services for him. I was very fond of Derek, and very sad about what happened. But one of the good things about being a phoenix, which I was at that time, is that you have a kind of connection to what I call the spiritual realm, the place where we all come from, and where we go when we die. I was able to sense his presence there, and to know that he was happy and at peace. His friends were able to know that too, which made them happy. We still miss him, of course.

"I was a phoenix for over two months, and I learned a lot in that time. I spent a lot of time connected to the spiritual realm, and I realized that it's a very important place, but we don't know very much about it. I've talked about it in classes sometimes, but it's so important that it deserves a class of its own. The subject of the study of the spiritual realm, and other matters of life, death, and the soul, is called Mysticism. I've wanted to have a class on Mysticism at Hogwarts for five years now, but I hadn't been able to find the right teacher. I'm pleased to tell you that I finally did. Please give a warm welcome to the newest member of the Hogwarts faculty, Professor Luna Lovegood!"

Luna walked to the podium as he spoke; he gave her a hug, and sat at the table next to her. She waited for the applause to die down. She's never spoken to so many people, thought Harry, but she doesn't seem nervous at all.

"Thank you," she said. "And thank you, Harry, for that nice introduction. I never expected to become a professor, but if we know something, we should teach it. And this subject, at least, is something I know.

"This class will start from tomorrow; you can choose to take it or not. Your prefects will post the times for each House and year in your common rooms; a time was found for each group when no one has any other lessons. The location will be the classroom at the top of the North Tower, which was last used by Professor Trelawney five years ago. Harry has used his unusual powers to give the classroom some... interesting visual effects, to illustrate some ideas and give the room the right atmosphere." Luna herself would do those things, of course, but she had to pretend that Harry had made it possible.

"There won't be an O.W.L. or a N.E.W.T. for the class this year, but there will be next year, because there has to be an O.W.L. and a N.E.W.T. for every class at Hogwarts. But the truth is that this class won't be about facts. Memorizing things won't do you any good. Now, how can you learn if there aren't any facts? The same way I did: by being open to ideas, even if they seem strange. If you don't come to this class with an open mind, you won't learn anything. You have to decide for yourself whether it makes sense or not. Nothing about this can be scientifically verified, or proved.

"Now, those of you who are fifth, sixth, or seventh years were here when I was a student. I was known for being strange, and wearing funny hats." A light chuckle went through the Hall. "But I was strange partly because I was open to things that couldn't be proved, and I didn't worry about what other people thought." She reached down under the podium, picked up her hat with large mouse ears, and put it on; almost all the students laughed. She smiled, and continued, "If you don't think you can learn anything from a teacher who wears a funny hat, then you shouldn't take this class. But if you do, you could learn a lot, and it could be very important. I'll see you around the school." She waved, and sat down to strong applause; Harry could see the Slytherin seventh years already starting to spread the word about their experience with Luna's abilities. He had a feeling her class would be well-attended.

He stood again. "Thank you. And now, it's time to eat." Food appeared on all of the plates, and students across all tables started eating and talking.

Luna was sitting between Harry and Hermione. "Nice speech," he said.

"Thanks," she replied. "It wouldn't have been me if I hadn't worked the funny hats into it somehow."

He laughed, and started on his food. He glanced over to see Luna talking to Hermione, and something about it felt right. He wasn't sure whether it was phoenix intuition, but he felt good about the future. As he took his second bite of food, his mind lingered on the word 'future', and he daydreamed for a minute about the distant future. An idea came to him, and his eyebrows rose involuntarily as he immediately realized that this idea would change his future significantly, for the better. He started to analyze it, to make sure it was feasible, but his intuition told him that there would be no problems, that it would work.

* * * * *

They're probably just starting the feast, thought Ginny. She was alone in her living room, just having finished a series of Occlumency exercises; James and Winky were at the Burrow, where her dinner would start in a half hour. It seemed strange not to have dinner with Harry and the other four on a Sunday, but since Harry and Hermione had to be at Hogwarts, they had their group dinner the day before.

Ginny had felt particularly good all day, though she hadn't thought about it consciously until doing the Occlumency exercises. Relaxing and clearing her mind had come more easily to her than ever before. She was thinking about Apparating to the Burrow when, to her great surprise, a very familiar phoenix burst into view and fluttered down next to her, perching on the arm of the sofa. In his beak was an envelope.

"Harry? What are you doing? You're supposed to be at the feast..." She trailed off as she noticed the envelope; he leaned his head forward as if to offer it, and she took it. Her name was written on the outside, in Harry's handwriting. She glanced at him in puzzlement; he gestured to the letter with his head, urging her to open it. She did, and started reading.

To my beloved Ginny,

We've known for some time that I have the ability to duplicate the effect of magical artifacts, such as the one that stops time. For some reason, it hadn't occurred to me to do that with the Time-Turner. Perhaps I'd never had a good enough reason, but now, I do. So, though the year is 2003 as you read this, as I write it, it's 2095. Very soon after I finish writing this, I'll travel back to the day you'll read this, take phoenix form, and appear to you as I've just done.

Of course I shouldn't tell you much about the future, but since it's 114 years since you were born, it shouldn't be a great shock to hear that you passed away some time ago. James did as well, more recently. I tell you this because you need to know it before I explain why I'm here. Of course, I remained bonded to James for all of his life; with his passing, I'm currently not bonded to anyone while I'm in phoenix form. So, I came back here, but I won't be returning to 2095 by magic; it'll be with the natural passage of time.

I've done this so that as a phoenix, I can bond with you, as I've wanted to since I first became a phoenix. But this way is better than if I had been able to do it then. You see, I won't be taking my human form again for decades, so I'll be able to companion you as a phoenix full-time, instead of occasionally, as it would have been the other way. I plan to come back a day early and start the bonding process, hidden from your view, so by the time you read this, it'll be at least partly established.

I grieved for you greatly when you died, even though you were happy and had no regrets, and I've missed you greatly since then. I know that as you read this, the phoenix that is with you will want to take human form, so that I can touch you, hold you one more time. I love you so much, you might be able to imagine what a temptation it will be. But I won't, because I know I shouldn't. Doing it once would tempt me to do it again, then once more, and there can't be two human Harrys in your life. Though you have joked that you wouldn't mind, we both know it wouldn't be fair to my younger self or healthy for our relationship. So, I'll be staying a phoenix.

That notwithstanding, I'm thrilled that my powers allow me to do this, and I'm looking forward to it more than I can say. I'll be with you again, and in a way, even closer to you than I was before. I'll know your feelings, and be able to help you and comfort you in a way I couldn't as a human, despite my best intentions. You'll know my love for you, and I'll know yours for me, in a way more powerful than words. I'll be yours, and only yours. As it should be.

I'll say it one last time with words, before I say it with feelings: I love you, Ginny. I was so very happy and lucky to be your life partner; you're all that a man could want and hope for. I've been blessed in many ways in my life, and you are by far the greatest one of all. With great anticipation, I look forward to what no man has ever before had: a second time around with the woman he loves.

Yours always,

Harry

Tears had started falling from Ginny's eyes halfway through the letter. As she finished reading, she noticed that they were falling onto the letter, but were vanishing instead of smearing the ink; through her tears, she smiled as she realized that he'd anticipated it and charmed the paper to absorb tears. She took a deep breath, and mentally asked Harry to hop onto her lap, which he did. She put her arms around him, holding him gently. She made no effort to stop crying, as her tears were tears of joy.

She got an impression from him, suggesting that she clear her mind. She took another deep breath, and focused on doing so. When she had, she got another impression: he was sending her his feelings.

It was even better than she had imagined it would be.