Ch. 165

"They have that. They all do… Neville, Fred, George, Luna, everyone in the Legion. Even Hermione now. They just…" Harry shrugged. "They just needed someone they could follow, I guess."

"You led them by example, Harry," Dumbledore insisted. "You showed them the best we could be."

Harry snorted at the praise. "I also showed them the worst they could be. Like I said, I wasn't in a good place, myself, for a long time."

"Severus spoke very highly of your leadership and determination these past few years. He insisted that despite any… bad times, your will was what pulled you through. Your unwillingness to surrender."

"Praise from Snape?" Harry chortled. "Somehow, I don't quite believe that."

"Well, he didn't say it outright, of course," Dumbledore chuckled. "But I know him well enough to be able to read between the lines, as it were. And you are right, of course, they all have the ability to be good people, but the fact is that it was you who brought them together, who brought it out of them. It's fortunate that the old breed is dying out. You youngsters seem better suited for this world, a free world, where every creature is equal, and evil is immediately stood up to."

"Please, don't get all corny on me."

"Have you visited Minerva yet?" Dumbledore asked after a moment of silence.

"No. I didn't plan on it, either, considering her reaction to me the last time I saw her."

"Rest assured, Harry, after she got the full story, she was mortified at her behavior. Surprisingly, she was tested positive for a slightly mind-altering potion. At Severus's suggestion, we had everyone tested for it, but only Minerva and Arthur Weasley were found positive."

Harry shook his head moodily. "Those two did enough damage as it is."

"True. However, I do know that Minerva has been looking for a chance to apologize to you. It would really ease her mind."

Harry shrugged. "Sure. Since I'm on a forgive-and-forget trip, anyway."

"Thank you, Harry. She has been having a hard time lately. The war severely depleted our ranks of experienced wizards, and worst, most of the teachers you knew retired shortly after the end of the war. Those that weren't killed at the Ministry, that is."

"So that's why you mentioned her. Should've known there was a hidden agenda."

Dumbledore inclined his head, conceding the point. "You could do a lot of good at Hogwarts, Harry. You have so much to teach, so much we could learn from that would make us all better people. You could teach the children to do what's right and not what's easy."

"No. And believe me, I'm not saying no for myself, I'm saying no because of my wife and daughter. Despite the fact that Bella got a full pardon from Minister Mockridge and we all got plastered with Orders of the Merlin, the public isn't exactly fond of her. Heck, the public isn't fond of me, either. Can you imagine what they'd do to my daughter?"

Dumbledore considered that for a moment, then realized that Harry was probably right. While the children and young adults - most of whom were people Harry had gone to school with, and many of whom had been part of Potter's Legion - wouldn't have a problem with Harry and his family, the older generations most likely would. "That is true. I cannot ask you to give up your daughter's welfare. But please, at least consider it," he pleaded. "There is so much good you could do."

Harry rolled his eyes. Neville, Bella, and Hermione had been trying to convince him of the exact same thing. His empire didn't really need him. The Ice People and the Trazkabanian sorcerers had governed themselves for the last few centuries without any problems.

Neville, Hermione, Fred, and George had been trying to convince him to return to the wizarding world and come out of his hermit-like reclusion. Even Bella agreed to an extent, telling him that he could do much good out there, teaching the wizarding world to stand up for itself so that another Voldemort would never again rise up. He had to admit, he was tempted… if simply by the fact that it would give him something to do. But the fact that the public would be all over his daughter like hungry cats over fish sausage stopped him cold in his tracks, and once he brought up that particular argument, none of the others could find a way to refute him.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I heard that during the last few years," Harry muttered. Unfortunately for him, Hermione and the twins had come up with a solution to that problem recently. Without Harry's knowledge, they had contacted Cuthbert Mockridge and the goblins, and asked them to set up an alternate identity for Harry's entire family. The whole idea, as Hermione had explained a few weeks ago when the trio had presented him with the option, was to allow him, Bella, and his daughter to walk the streets without being bothered by other people, after putting on a specialized glamour spell. They would even have the correct credentials, thanks to Mockridge and the goblins. Hermione told him she had gotten the idea from a muggle concept known as "witness protection." Harry still wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but everyone he knew was urging him to return.

"I'll think about it," he finally said.

Dumbledore nodded. "So, what has become of the Rod of Dominion?"

Harry eyed him curiously, though the ancient wizard could pick out the carefully-hidden suspicion lurking beneath. "Let's say it's gone, and hopefully gone for good. Since there aren't many warlocks around, I think that'll be that."

"It's destroyed, then?"

Harry paused for a moment. "Lost in space, is more like it," he said, before turning around and leaving the room. Dumbledore didn't need to know that, after years of research, he, Bella, and Hermione had found a way to destroy the staff. They were pretty sure that the original creator had known about it, but since it involved using up so much magic that whoever cast the spell would end up practically powerless, it was a safe bet that it had been quickly discarded by the earlier lords of Polairix. Now the Rod of Dominion was gone, and Harry was an ordinary wizard once more, all trace of his warlock powers gone. He paused inside the doorframe for a moment.

"Merlin's blessings upon you, Professor Dumbledore."

The ancient wizard turned around and smiled into his beard, repeating the ancient phrase. "Merlin's blessings upon you, Harry Potter."

A knock at her door caused Minerva McGonagall to look up. "Enter," she said, straightening the glasses on her nose. The door to the headmaster's office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry creaked open, and in walked the last person she had ever expected to see.

Harry Potter.

THE END