Chapter 15: Epilogue

Griselda Marchbanks hobbled up to the last of the Board of Governors' house. He was a stubborn old coot, but at least he'd be more reasonable than the last two she had gone to see. They had actually tried to attack her, which is why she had brought the two soldiers that were walking behind her. She wasn't stupid. She was going on 160 years of age. There was no way she would be able to win in a duel.

She knocked on the door, the man and woman standing at her shoulder.

"Are you sure this one will be more reasonable?" the man, Jack, asked as he put his hand on his gun. He had had to shoot at the last man. He didn't actually shoot the man, but the noise was enough to get the man to back off.

"I am," she assured him. "Frederick is an old fool, but he is more logical than most magicals," she added, knocking on the door once again. The man was particularly deaf after all.

"I'm coming, keep your shorts on," came the voice of an elderly man through the door. They heard him shuffle to the door and soon it was open. "Griselda, what do you want?" he asked, eyeballing the two younger people at the older woman's shoulders.

"I have come to tell you that the Board of Governors is now defunct," Madam Marchbanks said, leaning on her cane and taking a bit of pleasure at the look of disbelief on the man's face.

"You are lying," he said, stamping his foot like a child denied candy. He knew that most of the members of the Board had been arrested, but he thought they would be replaced with family members.

"I assure you I am not. I have already informed the rest of the Board. You're the last to know," she said with smugness in her tone. "Believe me it brings me great joy to depart this news to you," she said with a brilliant smile. Perhaps it was that attitude that caused the other members of the Board to draw on her.

"Who is going to oversee the curriculum if there is no Board?" Frederick asked, leaning on the doorframe, not inviting them into his house. They were not welcome here.

"The Department of Education, like it was always meant to, with the input of the newly established Parent Teachers Association," she said, smiling brightly. She had been told about them just this morning and was more than happy to have them on board, pun intended.

"You're going to ruin the school," the old man predicted. He then stood to his full height and slammed the door in her face.

"Well, that went well," she said, tapping her cane a minute, then she turned and started down the walkway. They had to leave the wards before they apparated.

"At least he didn't try to hex you," the female soldier, Barbara, said, walking slowly to keep pace with the shorter and much older woman.

"Pity, I do love seeing you young people take them down," Griselda said as she continued down the path. She was glad it was over. The school would be better off without the meddling old men and women who just like to keep things the way they were. And the best part was the PTA didn't require a paycheck. They did it for free.

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Harry and his friends were sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. They were all crammed in there, and it was a tight squeeze. It was a good thing they were all still young and small. There was no way they were going to accomplish this next year.

Susan was sitting next to Hannah and Neville, who was sitting next to Justin. The other four were on the opposite side. They were still discussing the changes that were going to be happening at the school and what they thought they might be.

Hannah was still being snippy at everyone, and Susan was getting tired of defending her. After one too many comments from Hannah, she finally snapped. She stood, grabbed Hannah's hand, and dragged her out of the compartment. They went to find an empty one. When they found one, Susan faced her friend.

"What is your problem? You've been snipping at everyone for weeks," she said, folding her arms in a confrontational manner. "You're coming off as a bigot, and I know you're not one," she added, not liking what the others were thinking about her longtime friend. "Hermione even asked if she should be wary of you," she stated, having dodged that spell for Hannah. She had explained to the other girl that Hannah just didn't like change.

"You are my friend," Hannah snapped, slapping her hand to her chest. "Ever since you met Harry Bloody Potter, it's been 'Harry this' and 'Harry that'. He's taken my friend away from me," she all but shouted, throwing her hands in the air. Then she started crying, putting her face in her hands. It had been bugging her for ages now. Susan had been her only friend for years, now she had loads of friends. They were taking her only friend away. She felt so alone.

"I never stopped being your friend," Susan said, hugging the crying girl. "I still see you every day." Which was true, even if it was at Harry's house most of the time, and the others were there.

"But you don't hang out with just me anymore, and when you do, all you talk about is what you've done with everyone else. We never do the things we use to," Hannah said, still crying only harder now.

"Sure, we do. Just yesterday, we went shopping together," Susan said, reminding her that they had done just that. It had been just the two of them. Susan had felt bad for not spending a lot of time with her oldest friend. Her time had been taken up with the changes and the protests. She had been spending a lot of time with Harry and his godfather.

"But you've changed, you spent the whole time talking about the changes at Hogwarts. Why does it have to change? Why does everything have to be different now? Why can't it all go back to the way it was?" Hannah said, lamenting over the way things were now. She didn't like it. Things were fine the way they had been. Even her parents were going on and on about how different things were. There had been some arguments in her house, and she didn't like that either.

"Everything changes," Susan said, trying to reason with the girl. "If it didn't, we wouldn't have a chance to grow."

There was silence after that statement, and they stood there while Hannah got her tears under control.

"I hate your friends," Hannah said mulishly, sniffling into her elbow. She really didn't, she just didn't like that they were taking Susan's time away from her.

"You don't seem to mind Neville," Susan said, brushing Hannah's hair away from her face.

"There's just something about him I can't hate. The rest of them are trying to take my friend from me," Hannah stated, wiping her drying tears with her sleeve.

"No, they're not. You can be friends with them too. They're trying to include you, you know," Susan said, trying to defend her other friends.

"See, even now you are taking their side over me," Hannah said as she started crying again. She was never going to get that closeness she had with Susan again.

"Hannah, I am allowed to have other friends," Susan said, not wanting to limit herself to one person. She had been having a blast these last few weeks, getting to know all these new people. While Hannah had been a great friend, she only had some social skills, while Harry and the others brought so much more to the table. She was coming out of a shell she didn't even know she had put herself in.

"I didn't say you couldn't," Hannah denied, once more wiping her tears. "I just want everything to go back to the way it was," she protested again.

"With the changes that are happening at Hogwarts, I don't think that is going to happen," the other girl said, giving her friend another hug. "Come on, let's go back. and try to get along with the rest. They are trying to be your friend too."

She was done with the conversation. Now it was up to Hannah to play nice. At least now she knew what was going on in the girl's head. She can understand it, and deal with it. She would take some extra time for her first friend, but she wasn't going to cut out her new friends just to appease Hannah.

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Hogwarts was different from what it was when they had left. Even the outside of the castle radiated a different aura. It was cleaner, and more refreshed. Like someone had pressure washed it. Not that it hadn't been a beacon before, but it was just… more now.

Inside, the House Tables were gone. In their place were many eight-seater tables. They were scattered throughout the Great Hall in random placements. The banners were all hung on the walls instead of over the tables, and the thousands of candles were replaced with crystal chandeliers, which were still candle lit. They still floated by magic, but they reflected a rainbow effect around the ceiling, which still showed the outside. It was magical.

Harry and his friends grabbed a table in the middle of the room. The rest of the student body wandered around and started sitting down with members of their own House. There were a few that sat with friends from other Houses. But for the most part, it was House oriented. For example, the Gryffindor Quidditch team grabbed a table near Harry's, along with Lee Jordan and a few other Gryffs.

There were new faces at the Teacher's Table. A great many of them. The students were all whispering about who they were. There was no throne depicting the headmaster. So they all assumed that McGonagall was the headmistress. They were surprised when a middle-aged man stood and addressed them.

"Good evening, students. Let me introduce the new staff and myself. I am Headmaster Ian McCloud. I was educated in these very halls, and went on to get my teaching credentials in the muggle world. I taught History in the muggle world for over eleven years, and was Dean in a prestigious school for five. I joined the British Armed Forces as a young lad and was educated by them. I kept in touch with my commanding officer, so when he asked if I wanted the position to head Hogwarts, I jumped at it," McCloud said with a chuckle.

Not many laughed with him. They were just too overwhelmed that McGonagall wasn't in charge. There was some scattered laughter and clapping, but for the most part it was silent.

"As you can see," Ian continued unabated, "there are five new people here. Deputy Headmaster Douglas Crimple is my second in command. Professor McGonagall has agreed to stay on as your transfiguration teacher. Teresa Trencher will be taking over as the head of Gryffindor. Wilma Winslow will be taking over as head of Hufflepuff. Quinton Jackson will be taking over as head of Ravenclaw. Mark Trenton will be taking over as head of Slytherin," here there was some mumbling, and McCloud held up his hands for quiet. "He is a Slytherin alumni. Class of '75."

Each person stood as their names were called and they all waved or bowed as their personality dictated. The students clapped or cheered. They were all whispering and gossiping at the looks of disgruntlement on their past Heads' faces. McGonagall looked like she had sucked a particularly sour lemon.

"There will be no House Cup for the rest of the year, or ever. It has been decided that it only propagates bigotry. Instead you will be earning individual points which you will be able to 'cash' in at the end of the year for prizes. What those are depends on many factors. That will all be discussed at the beginning of next school year. For now, just behave and you won't be expelled."

That caused more mumbling, only louder.

"Surely, you don't mean that," McGonagall said, not sure if the man was joking or not.

"Oh, no, I do mean every word," Ian said, holding up his hands again. When the students fell silent, he said, "There is now a no tolerance bullying rule. If you are caught bullying, you get punished. It is as simple as that. How badly depends on how badly your transgression was, or how many times you've been caught. The worse your crime, the worse your punishment. If you have been caught more than twice, you will be expelled. There will be no exceptions. I don't care who your parents are. They can be the minister for all I care. Three strikes you're out, as the Yanks say."

There was a lot of shuffling in seats at that. Dumbledore had let a lot slide over the years, and they weren't used to such strictness. Those in Ravenclaw didn't know how their new Head of House was going to be, so they were going to have to be wary. The bullies of the school, no matter what House were all going to have to be careful.

Those that were bullied, were cautious as well. They didn't believe that the man was telling the truth. They had never had the staff defend them before.

"There will be an evaluation of all the teachers. If they are found lacking, they will be replaced by the next school year," the headmaster continued. "Either Mr. Crimple or I will be doing these evaluations. There will be a strict code of conduct that all professors must adhere too. I am sure that the staff we have here will do just fine," he said, smiling at all the teachers, who were squirming.

That brought some chuckling from the older students at the thought that Snape, Lockhart, Binns, or Trelawney would pass inspection. They knew better.

"That is all I have for announcements for now. Let us eat," Ian said, waving his hands and the tables filled with food.

"I don't think the professors like the new headmaster," Justin said, looking at the sour faces of said teachers.

"I think you're right," Harry agreed, serving himself up some potatoes.

"I think it'll be fine," Hermione said, spooning some soup into a bowl and placing the spoon back in the dish.

"I'm sure it will, but can you imagine Snape passing a code of conduct evaluation?" Terry said, glancing at the dour man, who looked like he was sweating.

"No," came the resounding response. None of them thought the man could.

"Let's change the subject," Susan said, seeing that Hannah was going to snap again.

So they talked about homework and things of that nature until it was time for afters. Soon enough it was time for bed. And they all went to bed with the thoughts that maybe the new rules and headmaster was just what the school needed.

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"We have a problem," Starchers said to the new Wizengamot. They were seventy-five strong and from all walks of life.

"What would that be?" Idlewild asked, hoping it wasn't a Dark Lord. She just didn't want to put up with that kind of foolishness.

"They are putting up cameras on every street corner in the muggle world," Thomas said, holding up the newspaper from the muggle world.

"I knew they were talking about it, but have they passed the bill?" Stevenson asked, worried about what that was going to do to the Statute of Secrecies.

"Yes," Starchers said, reading the article. "According to this, it will happen slowly over time, but soon enough there will be one on every street corner. Nowhere will be safe. We need to pass some laws about apparating in the muggle world."

"Dammit, it's hard enough to get them to dress correctly, how are we to get the public to not apparate?" someone said, pointing out what they were all thinking. Well, all the new members.

"What do you mean dress correctly?" one of the older members asked.

"You're joking, right? Have you seen some of the ways the older people dress in the muggle world? Did you go to the Quidditch World Cup? It was downright embarrassing," the first person said, laughing out loud.

"I don't see what the issue is," someone said, trying to bring the topic back to the cameras. "We will simply spell the cameras."

"They are live cameras. The second someone appears on them, someone is watching. They then will report that someone just appeared out of thin air. We will be exposed within a week," Idlewild said, rubbing her forehead feeling a headache coming on.

"What can we do?" a panicked member asked.

"We'll have to pass a law and send out a bulletin on the Wizarding Wireless and in the Daily Prophet. It has to reach everyone. And fast," Idlewild said, quickly writing out an outline of the law and passing it to Bones.

Amelia read it, added to it and passed it to Starchers. He read it, nodded, and passed it back to Idlewild. She read it and then stood. She read it out loud. And they voted on it. It was one of the fastest passed laws on the books.

Due to the new video cameras being installed throughout the muggle world, there will be no apparating or port-keying in the muggle world, bar in a muggleborn's house or at Ministry appointed locations. Anyone caught doing so will be fined for the first offence, and then imprisoned for each offence thereafter. Each additional offence will incur more prison time.

Breaking the Statute of Secrecies will be punished by death.

There was an addendum attached that described what a video camera was and why the law was passed. The law was then broadcast via every available media outlet even the Quibbler. There would be no excuse that it was not well known.

Other such laws to keep the Statute of Secrecies, such as dress codes and mandatory classes of pop culture at Hogwarts, were taking place. Slowly but surely, the wizarding world was catching up with the muggle world. They were still their own charming culture, but they could blend in now.

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With the stricter guidelines, both the school and the ministry ran well for many years. Harry and his group of friends went on to have a good carefree education. There were no Dark Lords to interrupt, no meddling old men to set traps, and no busy bodies to ensnare them. Well, one tried, but Sirius put a stop to that right quick.

Snape, Lockhart, Binns, Trelawney, and McGonagall didn't pass the code of conduct evaluation. McGonagall didn't pass because she unfairly took points off students inside her House. She always seemed to punish the Gryffindors harsher than the other Houses. Like she expected them to do better.

They also found the curse on the DADA position and had the same professor for the last two decades.

New teachers were brought in, many from the muggleborn military. There was just a pool of them to choose from. They had all been training for this for years.

Harry went on to marry Susan, which surprised everyone. They both joined the Aurors and were soon a family of five.

Hermione went on to marry Terry Boot. He thought she was just the smartest woman in the world and was smitten from the start. She joined the Unspeakables, and he went on to be a reporter for the Daily Prophet. They had two children.

The rest married and had children with others outside of their group of friends. Sirius and Remus also married witches outside the group of friends and had children, meaning Harry didn't inherit the Black fortune. Which was fine by him. He was rich enough as a Potter.

The Dursleys had gone to jail for over ten years, and Dudley was put into foster care, where he found out that he was not king of the hill. He learned the hard way that bullying was not going to get him through life and grew to be a good man. When his parents got out of prison, they tried to reconnect with their son, but he wanted nothing to do with them.

Xeno Lovegood searched for the rest of the Deathly Hallows, but never found them. He never told anyone he had the wand. The secret died with him, though his daughter Luna figured it out when he died and she saw the wand in his coffin. She buried it with him, and the legend died there.

The next Dark Lord that tried to rise in Britain, around fifty years later, soon learned that the military, which included all of the magicals, would not put up with bigotry of any kind. They stomped him to the ground so fast that he was gone within the week he started. They never did find out what his stance was, only that he was trying to start a war.

It wasn't until a couple of hundred years or so later, when they were discovered by the muggles that there was a major issue. But that's another story.