16

Chapter 16 – Epilogue

1991 to 1996

Whilst the young Harry Potter had plenty of adventures during his years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, none of them were of the deadly nature that his counterpart had experienced.

There was no confrontation with a Dark Lord-possessed Defence teacher at the end of his first year – the Auror who took over from Professor Quirrell in the last week of October was quite competent and would go on to hold the post for several years, providing a much more consistent and credible education in the subject to his pupils and gradually raising the standard in the subject over his tenure.

With the sudden departure of Professor Snape, Harry and Hermione had even returned to having their Potions classes in the castle. Horace Slughorn had agreed to fill in for the remainder of the school year 1991-92, and he was succeeded the following year by a permanent replacement who had been teaching at Beauxbatons - a Professor Ougier – who was a significant upgrade and who even Sirius agreed was a much better teacher than any of the previous incumbents.

The set of trials that Dumbledore had set up to protect the Philosopher's Stone was dismantled as one of the first acts of interim-Headmistress McGonagall, partly to the dismay of the Weasley twins, who had been planning how to get around them.

Harry delighted in getting onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his first year, though once he learned that Oliver Wood, the team's Captain and Keeper, expected three-hour practices at the crack of dawn three times a week he became slightly less enamoured with the idea.

That didn't stop him catching the Golden Snitch in fourteen of the fifteen games he played in his first five years and Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup in four of those years.

With the destruction of Tom Riddle's diary, and the end of Slytherin's line, the staff and pupils at Hogwarts were safe from the threat of a possessed student releasing the basilisk that roamed beneath the school. It had occurred to Monica that it ought to be disposed of just to make sure, so during the summer after his first year Harry was called upon to demonstrate his parseltongue, but only to record words into a cassette recorder that a team of Hit-wizards then played out to open the Chamber of Secrets and deal with the king of serpents.

This proved even easier than expected, after they took Doug Granger's advice and also recorded a rooster crowing that could be used to kill the creature.

Some of the Hit-wizards were slightly disappointed that their reputations weren't about to take a boost from being the ones to slay a basilisk, but the more sensible of them realised that it was a much safer way of dealing with the threat than they had originally devised.

If you had asked Harry about his most exciting adventure at school – outside of his Quidditch matches, of course - it would probably have been the time that he got to ride a Hippogriff in his Care of Magical Creatures class, though the day had been spoiled somewhat by Draco Malfoy nearly getting sliced up by the proud animal. Fortunately for Draco, the new professor in the subject had learned from acting as an assistant to Professor Kettleburn for a year and a half, and had spotted the boy's sneering insults just in time to interpose himself between the Hippogriff and its potential victim, and the minor scratch that Professor Hagrid suffered as a result was healed in mere moments by Madam Pomfrey.

When Hermione heard about it (not permitted to take all five electives, she had chosen to do Arithmancy and Ancient Runes), she was quite angry and spend several evenings helping Hagrid write up a proper report of the incident that the Headmistress was able to use to prevent the Ministry interfering.

Cancelling the Tri-wizard Tournament was another of McGonagall's early decisions, and one that she had to fight hard against the Ministry to push through. Citing the tournament's history of fatalities and the lack of willingness of the Ministry to undertake liability for any mishaps, injuries or death, McGonagall spent much of her free time rallying Madame Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff to her point of view.

Minister Fudge and Bartemius Crouch, the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation had both been adamant that the Tournament should go ahead, mindful of the potential popularity boost it might bring them as the organisers of two high-profile international events in a short space of time, but their intransigence was finally overcome when all three schools demonstrated a strong show of unity and refused to participate.

Needless to say, there were no attempts to kidnap Harry during the (non-existent) tournament.

Monica's foreknowledge of the fate of Barty Crouch Junior had been carefully passed on to sources within the DMLE, but he had managed to evade them over a number of years. Perhaps in desperation that plans he had hatched with Peter Pettigrew to use the Tri-wizard Tournament to somehow rally former Death Eaters to his side under Voldemort's banner had been stymied, he instead went on something of a rampage after the Quidditch World Cup Final. In an attempt to collapse the entire stadium structure during the match, the wand he attempted to use – stolen from Ron Weasley during the excitement of the game - backfired on him in its final act, trapping him under a mound of debris that caved in his ribcage and essentially causing him to suffocate under the weight of his own body.

Crouch Senior was sentenced to Azkaban for breaking his son out in the first place, and for keeping him under the Imperious Curse for several years.

The changes that had occurred within Hogwarts, the death of Albus Dumbledore and increased regard for the Minister in the wake of his quick response to the Crouch affair left Cornelius Fudge in a much more secure frame of mind.

There was no obvious threat to his position, and nobody was hailing the return of He-who-must-not-be-named.

Granted, he was still firmly in the pocket of Lucius Malfoy – whose political stance had mellowed slightly once he was made aware by Sirius that the Dark Lord really was gone for certain – and his still retained the obsequious but otherwise rabid and ruthless Dolores Umbridge as his Senior Undersecretary (she clearly knew where the bodies were buried), but like in most bureaucracies, change happened slowly, and the gradual change that the Blacks continued to push for would bear much greater fruit decades into the future.

All the while, Harry grew up happy, loved and secure.

DOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHP

Tuesday 30th July 1996

Crawley, West Sussex

It was an odd day for a family meeting, Harry thought. Normally they had these just before heading off to Hogwarts or just after returning home, not in the middle of the summer holidays.

His school year had been mildly stressful, what with adding prefect responsibilities on top of his OWL-year studies. He was fairly confident that he'd done well in all of his exams, though, even if he hadn't aced them like Hermione would have done.

So there wasn't really anything academical that they needed to talk about.

Also, there was a stranger present. He had always known that Uncle Remus, Uncle Sirius and Aunt Agnes, and Auntie Monica weren't really his Aunts and Uncles, just as he'd been told many years ago that he was adopted and that Helen and Doug Granger weren't his birth parents and that Hermione wasn't actually his sister, but none of that really mattered – they were the family he knew and loved.

Uncle Sirius had been sure to take him to Godric's Hollow to see his parents graves once he was old enough to understand why he'd been adopted and he was determined to remember their sacrifice for him.

Today, though, there was an unknown man sitting with Auntie Monica.

He looked as though he should be familiar though. Something about the shape of the face – despite the lines and wrinkles - and the hair – almost completely white - that nagged at Harry.

He shook the feeling off though, and sat on the expanded sofa next to Uncle Sirius.

"What's up?" he asked, getting a nudge in his ribs from his Godfather.

"Harry, we've got something to tell you and Hermione that will seem unbelievable, but is nonetheless true," Helen said. "It affects both of you. But first let me introduce you to Harry Potter," she signalled to the man sat next to Monica.

"Another Harry Potter?" he asked. "Are you my Grandfather? I didn't think I had any living relatives apart from Aunt Petunia."

Harry had met his maternal Aunt and Uncle and their three children – Harry's cousins – just twice, and had not come away with a favourable impression. His cousins, Dudley, Marjorie, and Daisy, seemed to be allowed to get just about anything they wanted out of their parents with just the faintest hint of tears, and if Vernon or Petunia tried to be firm, a tantrum was likely to ensue.

Harry knew that such behaviour would never have been tolerated by Doug and Helen and he wondered how his cousins would ever cope when they left home. As it was, Dudley was far too old to be bursting into tears when he didn't get his way – at sixteen he looked a blubbery mess when his chins started to wobble.

"Well, you do, kind of," Sirius noted. "Draco and his Mother are cousins of some sort, as are Andromeda and her daughter."

"Oh."

"But, getting back to your question," the man said. "I'm not actually related to you, I am you."

"What?"

"I'm you," he repeated, "but from the future."

Harry looked at his Mum and Dad, and they both nodded at him to confirm that it was true.

"But why are you here?" he asked. He'd heard about time travel being possible in the Wizarding World – Hermione had spent weeks (in vain) in the summer before her third year trying to convince her parents and Professor McGonagall to let her take all of the elective courses once she'd found out that it was possible to skip back a few hours using a time-turner – but he hadn't realised that it could be used to such an extent.

"That's part of the story," older-Harry said. "I guess it starts when I died for the second time."

Monica elbowed older-Harry in the ribs.

"Stop trying to confuse the poor boy," she told him, "and tell the story."

"Fine! Fine!" he surrendered. "But you're going to have to tell a lot of it, because I wasn't there for it," he reminded her.

And so began the tale of how Harry Potter had originally lived and defeated the most evil wizard of his day. How he had died twice, and how a woman once known as Hermione Granger had gone back in time after his 'second death' when she found out how badly he had been treated to change how Harry had been brought up and to defeat Voldemort without him having to get involved.

"So, you're actually me?" Hermione asked of Monica.

She nodded. "Yes. Given how closely I was going to be interacting with both your family and with Dumbledore I thought it best to come up with a pseudonym, though."

"That would have been confusing, otherwise," Doug said with a grin.

"But Harry didn't have the same problem?" Hermione continued.

"No. I'm not sure what he originally planned," Monica said, "but without having any magic he couldn't do a lot of the things I could."

"I was just going to kidnap Harry and raise him in the Muggle world," older-Harry told them with a grin. "This way worked out much better though: you got a real family and people to teach you how to use your magic. Plus, old moldy-Voldy's Horcruxes dealt with before you even had to get rid of Quirrell, let alone face the big bad yourself."

"Don't forget rescuing me from a decade in Azkaban," Sirius put in.

"I'm sure that was an unintended consequence," older-Harry said with a grin at Sirius.

"In any case," he continued, "It turns out I made a mistake in my calculations and I didn't actually arrive back here until shortly before you went to Hogwarts. By the time I got here, your 'Auntie Monica' had already done most of the heavy lifting, along with Helen and Doug."

Harry looked around. Only he and his sister seemed to be at all flustered.

"I don't know where to start with questions," he said in confusion. "But why are you telling me this now?"

Monica and older-Harry looked at one another.

"Partly it's because you're old enough to be able to understand a lot of what this all involves," Monica told him. "You're nearly sixteen, you've been through the first five years of Hogwarts, you've seen in part how the Wizarding World works and what you might want to do to make it better when you grown up.

"You can much more easily contrast what your experience at Hogwarts was like with how Harry's was now that you've seen it for yourself."

"But part of it," older-Harry added, "is that I'm dying, and I wanted the chance to tell you before I went. I lost a big part of my life-span when my magic was bound as a child, and that was never released. I lost another chunk, and my magic, when I came back in time.

"Essentially I'm over eighty years old, and although as a Wizard that might not have meant much, without magic, I'm coming to the end of my span, I'm afraid. It's probably the last chance that I'll get to say thank you and goodbye."

The younger Harry shared a glance with his adopted sister.

"I think I should probably be thanking you," he said, looking at the older pair. "I don't know what it would have been like growing up with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, but from what you've said it wouldn't have been very nice."

He looked at Doug and Helen.

"I need to thank you both, too. Again," he said.

"I think you've done us all proud, anyway," older-Harry said with a shrug and a smile. "You've certainly shown my academic record up!"

Helen looked at Doug and at Monica.

"We certainly think it's been worthwhile, Harry," she said. "Monica says that in the original timeline things would really be starting to get bad around now, and parents of Ugglebarnby would have begun seriously fearing for their children. This time, we're not."

Monica nodded.

"I bet you've still got lots of questions, though," she said.

And on that note, they broke for tea, before talking long into the evening.

DOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHP

Monday 19th July 2021

12, Grimmauld Place, London

"How does retirement feel?" Sirius asked as he greeted Monica when she came through the Floo.

"I'm not actually retiring, Sirius," she replied as they walked through to the comfortable living room. "I'm just taking a sabbatical before I move onto my next job."

"Really? I didn't know you had another job lined up. Is that why you're stepping down now?"

"Not exactly. I just felt that twenty years as Headmistress was long enough for anyone. When I was invited to take the role on it was with the intention of getting the Hogwarts curriculum properly reformed for the twenty-first century and try and make sure that successful OWL and NEWT students had more options than remaining completely in the Wizarding World."

"Well I'd say you've managed that."

It hadn't been an easy job, Monica reflected. Even though Minerva McGonagall had started the process during her decade-long tenure as Headmistress prior to Monica's appointment, there had still been so much to do.

The more thorough appointment and assessment of the teaching staff had only been the first step in moving away from the Dumbledore era and bringing more modern thinking into the school. The complete overhaul of the Muggle Studies subject had shown McGonagall just how much work there was to do, and she had realised that she just didn't have the knowledge to be able to do it.

"I'm only making changes now that you suggested years ago, Monica," she had said in her last year in the job. "I'm too close to the problem to see the solutions that we need, and a fresh set of eyes will really make a difference."

From those beginnings with small changes, Monica had dedicated her time as Headmistress to better integrate the Muggle-born and Muggle-raised and provide them with a better understanding of the Wizarding World. To match the course on Muggle Studies, she had introduced a Magical Traditions course for first years whether they had grown up in knowledge of such things or not. She had introduced - and eventually made mandatory once the teachers began noticing the gulf in quality between the essays of those who had taken and those who had not - essay writing and penmanship courses, and provided guests for bite-sized 20 minute lunchtime lectures on topics as diverse as research skills, magical craftsmanship, the latest IT, writing for publication, and magical historic monuments.

Her most difficult fight had been with the Board of Governors and the Ministry, who fought long and hard against the introduction of 'Muggle' subjects, including mathematics, science and foreign languages, claiming that she was turning the most prestigious school of Witchcraft and Wizardry into a mundane Muggle school.

She had prevailed in the end though.

Sirius and his wife Agnes had been staunch supporters, and had long before ensured that they had a place on the Board in order to fight her corner for just this kind of situation. They had also, somehow, inveigled the support of Draco Malfoy to the cause. Agnes always said that it was the thought of Ugglebarnby having more reason to go back to their own world if they had kept up their studies in some subjects that had appealed to him, perhaps not realising that the Pure-blood children who had picked up through the revised Muggle Studies course that there were other, more wide-ranging opportunities available to them were those with whom such continued studies found the greatest uptake through to OWL (GCSE) and NEWT (A-level) qualifications.

"I'd like to think so," Monica said, "but I started to feel I was outstaying my welcome a little."

"I doubt that."

"Hmm, well I'm certainly starting to get more complaints from the parents about what their children are learning."

"Maybe they've just started to get comfortable enough with you that they think they can tell you off."

"Maybe, but I'm sure that Minerva didn't have the same issue."

"No, but don't forget that she taught them Transfiguration for many years, and probably still appears to them as the dauntless old biddy she did to use when we were there."

"Sirius!"

"Tell me it's not true?"

"Well... perhaps some people thought like that. The ones, like you, that managed to get in trouble and therefore get on her bad side!"

"A hit! A hit!" Sirius cried out, miming a gunshot wound to the chest.

"Stop fooling around and get Agnes," Monica said with a carefully hidden grin. "She and I have got better things to do today than pander to your low humour!"

"Ah! A fatal one!"

Sirius's eldest daughter Estrella popped her head around the door.

"Is Daddy being silly again, Auntie Monica?"

All of Sirius's eight children had grown up treating Monica as a surrogate Aunt, even though she was no relation to them at all. Monica had spent so much time with Sirius and Agnes over the years that it seemed second nature, and had just seen the youngest, Maria-Anna, sorted into Hufflepuff this year like her eldest sister.

"Don't worry dear," Monica replied. "I'm had plenty of time to get used to him."

"Were you Headmistress at Hogwarts when he went?"

"I'm not quite that old, Estrella." She gave Sirius a cold look as he chuckled away at her. "Sometimes it feels like it, though."

The twenty-something girl looked between the two of them and shook her head.

"Mum said she'll be down in a couple of minutes," she said.

"Thanks, dear," Monica replied.

Estrella popped back out again.

"And exactly what are you plotting with my wife, this evening?" Sirius asked.

"Just something ahead of my new job."

"Well, that not mysterious at all, then."

"Let's just say that there's still a score to settle, and it dovetails perfectly with my new job, so I'm getting a head start on it. I'm sure you'll approve once I'm finally given the go ahead to let people know about it.

DOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHPDOHP

Wednesday 5th February 2025

Cokeworth, Lancashire

Severus Snape had always been surprised that nobody had ever accused him of the murder of Quirinius Quirrell.

He'd spent the first few years after walking out of Hogwarts in Cyprus where he had gained a reputation as an excellent apothecarist and brewer, and nobody realised that he personally harvested many of the more dubious ingredients. He had begun to attract attention from the local potentates and was wary of this leading to his forced return to England to face murder charges.

He travelled around the Middle East, continuing to hone his skills but drawing as little attention as he could, until he felt it safe to return to his home town.

Nearly thirty years later, nobody paid much attention to the newly-named Tobias Prince, who took over the family premises in Spinners End and had begun to make a new name for himself as a consultant on ward potions.

He couldn't say that he was completely happy with life – the likes of Longbottom, Potter and Black were beginning to have significant sway in the modern Wizarding World, and were constantly introducing innovations from the Muggle world that made being magical less and less special with each passing year.

Waking this morning, he was surprised to find a cloaked person at the foot of his bed.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he demanded, reaching for his wand.

A flash of light saw the wand incinerated and the ashes fall to the floor.

"As Senior Unspeakable, I am aware that you killed Quirinius Quirrell in 1981, and that you were guilty of many other crimes throughout your life that would likely have resulted in your execution or permanent residence in Azkaban had you been caught.

"However, by removing the threat of the Dark Lord, and never asking for anything in return, we decided to let you live a little longer.

"Your time is now up, though.

"For the betrayal of Lily and James Potter. For the thousands of students whose Potions education you ruined. For the murder of Quirinius Quirrell. For the betrayal of the Dark Lord and his followers. For the multiple murders and assaults you committed whilst overseas.

"For all this, payment has come due."

The figure pushed back its hood.

"You!" Snape roared in fright.

"Yes. You didn't know this, but I was once known as Hermione Granger. You remember me only as Monica Wilkins, however. I came back in time to right wrongs and ensure the decisive vanquishing of Tom Riddle, alias Voldemort. I came back in time to give a man who died three times a better life in this world than he had in the last. I came back for love. For honour. For justice."

It had taken nearly three years to get to this point from when she had joined the Unspeakables at the highest level. Some of that time had been in gathering the evidence needed for the Ministry to try Snape in absentia and find him guilty of Quirrell's murder, and to engineer a conviction of complicity in Dumbledore's death.

Both had been needed to get the entire Wizengamot onside in allowing the Department to issue a search and kill warrant to its senior staff, and although this wasn't a death that was going to be publicised, it always helped to have the pieces in place for a legitimate disposal.

Some of the time had been used in investigating possible leads into Snape's current whereabouts. More than once the trail had gone cold in Persia and Arabia. But Monica had known that he would, eventually, return to Britain. Not necessarily to the scene of his crime, but certainly to the places he knew best and could operate in: Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and here at Spinners End in the old mill town of Cokeworth.

When her sensors had tripped to his presence here some months back, she'd been surprised that it was so easy, so the time between then and now had been spent carefully honing the plan of attack: ensuring that she would be able to enter the property undetected and whilst her target was unable to defend himself.

It had worked.

Snape had relied, like Albus Dumbledore once before him, on the principle of 'security through obscurity', assuming that the Wizarding World would fail to notice what was right beneath its nose.

He hadn't accounted for the thoroughness of Monica Wilkins, nor for the gradual shifting of the collective mindset that had occurred whilst he had spent his years abroad.

Having identified herself, she was surprised that he didn't try and bluster his way out of things. But she didn't intend to give him time to fill her ears with self-justification,

"And it is justice I now dispense," she said calmly, cutting off any further protestations.

"As Senior Unspeakable, I, Monica Wilkins, declare Severus Tobias Snape, currently known as Tobias Prince, the recipient of justice.

"Asphixio."