The Future in Ashes
The Aurors were still moving everywhere.
Some were reinforcing the cages where the deformed creatures continued slamming themselves against the magical bars.
Others were guarding the prisoners.
And some were simply staring at the remains of Hogwarts with empty expressions.
As if they still expected the castle to decide to rebuild itself, because every one of them remembered how magical it had been during their youth.
But it did not.
Hogwarts remained there.
Burned, destroyed, and silent.
Sirius stood with his arms crossed, his clothes still covered in dirt and an expression that made it clear he was about two seconds away from going insane and starting to attack the idiots right now. Kingsley seemed to notice this and began moving the prisoners farther away before a crime occurred.
Narcissa stood slightly apart, glancing toward Draco from time to time. Everyone else seemed to matter very little to her. Including Lucius, who was still in a state of shock and had to be dragged around by the Aurors like a living corpse, because he continued trembling while muttering incantations, trying to make his magic respond to him. But there was nothing left of it anywhere in his body, making the effort completely pointless.
Selene stared at the ruins of Hogwarts with a thoughtful expression. Pandora, who had remained surprisingly calm, did not say a single word as she looked at the ruins. Each of them had spent part of their lives there. They had met the love of their lives there.
Like almost every wizard living in England.
Well, except perhaps Susan, who continued occasionally glancing toward her daughter and Draco with interest, not caring too much about anything else. And Wanda, who stood nearby holding a transparent sphere between her fingers, inside which a black mist slowly twisted.
But even Wanda occasionally shifted her gaze toward Harry, who appeared to be plotting something evil. Yet every time Wanda looked at him, Harry immediately adopted the most innocent expression he could possibly find. Tommy kept trying to approach the horrendous creatures in the cages, while Billy physically held him back to stop him. Then Wanda's attention would return to the sphere floating above her palm as though it were something completely harmless.
Which was probably one of the biggest lies of the entire night.
At least for a normal person.
"So," Sirius said while looking toward the ruins. "How much do you think it's going to cost to repair all this?"
A rather heavy silence followed.
After all, the last time, they themselves had donated a large portion of the money used to renovate Hogwarts and remove every dangerous and malicious thing hidden inside it.
But renovating was very different from rebuilding an entire school.
And although they certainly had the money to do it, this had only been Sirius' first year as Headmaster.
And the school had ended up like this.
Edward barely shifted his gaze toward Sirius, perhaps thinking the same thing as everyone else.
"I think we should start looking for another Headmaster," he simply said in his usual dry tone.
"Hey, hey. I did a great job. Pandora was supposed to deal with the infiltrators and only let the place burn a little, not... well..." Sirius said while looking toward the burned ruins of his school.
"And you're the only idiot who would believe she could actually handle that. No offense," Selene said while turning toward Pandora.
Who simply waved a hand as if she genuinely did not care and even gave her a smile.
"You ran off because you wanted to show off in front of your godson and nephew. So you ruined everything," Selene continued mockingly toward Sirius.
"It was obvious I had to go. There was one more enemy than we expected. We all thought it would be Voldemort, and it turned out to be Narcissa's idiot husband, who was supposedly eaten by a giant one eyed squid monster. Besides, Edward already got his chance to look cool in front of them last year. Obviously it was my turn this time," Sirius immediately argued back, annoyed with Selene, though his reasoning sounded increasingly stupid the longer he talked.
Selene let out a small sigh, already preparing to start one of their usual arguments.
And before Sirius could complain any further, a voice sounded nearby.
"Professor Maximoff."
Everyone turned.
Luciel Delacour was standing several meters away.
He looked tired, and his face was covered with scratches. The golden armor Draco had previously created for him had vanished after the gold magic faded away.
Leaving him wearing only the training outfit he had started the final task in, now torn in several places.
He still held his sword in one hand, though its tip pointed toward the ground, as if he remained constantly alert after his battle with Armand, a battle in which he had not been able to accomplish much.
Unlike Draco and Harry, who had managed to do so against Lucius, he was truly exhausted.
That was the problem with being a physical monster.
No matter how strong you became, your body still had to bear the cost.
His gaze, though still elegant and restrained, carried a weight that did not seem appropriate for someone his age.
Katerina stood beside him.
Holding his arm tightly, as though she still feared he might disappear if she let go.
Luciel turned toward his fiancée and gave her a smile before gently touching her hand to reassure her.
As though that smile alone told her he was alright.
Then he looked back toward Wanda with respect.
Or rather, toward the sphere floating above her hand.
The black mist inside the orb twisted slowly.
"He...?" he began.
"He no longer exists," Wanda cut in immediately.
The answer was simple.
Direct.
Exactly what Luciel needed to hear.
He did not react immediately and simply stared at her.
Then he slowly took a breath.
As though for the first time in years, air was truly entering his lungs.
As though for the first time in a very long time, he could feel a tremendous weight lifting from his shoulders.
And all the freedom that came with it.
The only thing that perhaps bothered him a little was not having been able to finish him with his own hands.
His eyes drifted toward his sword for a moment before returning to the orb floating above Wanda's palm.
"What will you do with that?" Luciel asked while looking at the orb.
Wanda did not answer immediately.
The sphere floated slightly higher above her palm.
The mist inside shifted, but not with fury.
More like confusion.
And perhaps a little fear.
"She's a victim too. She just wasn't lucky enough to be saved by a mother's love like you were," Wanda said softly before looking at Luciel and giving him a gentle smile. "I'm sure that if your mother could see you now, she would be truly happy to see how you grew up. And there is no need to keep carrying guilt over what happened that day. Any mother would give her life for her child. That's what we're here for," Wanda said.
Upon hearing those words, Luciel's eyes widened as if he could feel a faint invisible embrace reaching directly into his soul from someone who was no longer there.
Luciel recognized that feeling.
A feeling he had never forgotten since that day.
His lips trembled ever so slightly for an instant before his usual smile returned.
That smile that for years had hidden every bit of pain he had lived through.
Everything he had lost.
But had never truly disappeared.
Because he had promised.
"Thank you," Luciel said.
"Thank you very much."
At this moment, he no longer looked like the monster who had shocked the magical world by fighting with swords and standing against monsters like Harry and Draco as an equal.
Right now, he only looked like a tired boy.
Just a very, very tired boy.
Katerina, seeing her fiancé like that, raised a hand and touched his cheek.
"Luciel..."
Luciel gave his beloved a smile and looked into her eyes while tightening his grip on the hand she had resting on his arm.
"Next year we'll be adults," Luciel suddenly said. "I think it'll be time."
Katerina blinked in confusion for a moment before answering.
"What?"
"Next year we'll be adults," he repeated.
"Yes, I know," she said. "But what are you ta..."
Before she could finish, Luciel interrupted her.
"Then we should get married soon."
Silence fell between them as Katerina simply stared at Luciel, still unable to process his words.
"Excuse me?"
"Let's get married," he repeated for the third time.
And he could not help laughing at the confused expression on his fiancée's face.
A laugh so genuine that it seemed to brighten everything around him, as always drawing everyone's attention.
Katerina looked at him.
Of course, she was delighted too.
As much as Luciel loved Katerina, Katerina loved Luciel.
How could she not after everything they had gone through together?
Katerina tried to contain the happiness escaping through her smile.
But it was difficult.
She did not answer immediately.
Instead, she gave him a look so full of love that it seemed to say everything on its own.
"I'd love to."
It was an answer of complete acceptance.
Then she wrapped her arms around him tightly.
...
"So... wow," Harry said, unable to find proper words for what he was looking at.
Where once there had been a massive ancient castle, there were now only charred and shattered ruins.
In some places, melted glass could even be seen.
And it looked as though the small mountain that had served as the castle's foundation had sunk by at least half.
"And to think this is actually all our good friend Draco Malfoy's fault. How does it feel? Even my problems never caused this level of destruction," Harry said while looking at Draco with an amused, almost smug smile.
Normally, he was the one who attracted disasters.
And his friends never missed an opportunity to remind him of that.
Of course he was going to enjoy this moment.
Draco, naturally, let out a tired sigh.
Having expected this.
"What do you think, Daphne?" Harry asked in the tone of some magical detective or something similar.
While his fellow detective Daphne stood there as if she could uncover hidden truths simply by staring hard enough.
She even rubbed her chin thoughtfully and nodded.
"Cursed. Definitely cursed," she declared while playing along.
"Enough. This isn't the time," Hermione said, interrupting both of them.
And of course she knew she would be the next target.
After all, she had known them for years.
So she immediately redirected everyone's attention toward the adults, who had already resumed arguing about what to do next.
Though in reality it was mostly Sirius arguing with Selene and Selene looking ready to send Edward to duel him.
"They can rebuild it, right?" Hermione asked. "They did it before."
"Well, yes," Sirius said, calming down a little. "But this time it's different. Before, there was actually something left to rebuild. Now..."
Sirius looked toward what remained.
Which was mostly melted stone.
"And you know how long it took last time," he added.
Hearing that, Harry joined the conversation.
"So... is there a chance we'll have to attend another school?"
Wanda, Selene, Narcissa, Pandora, and Susan instantly exchanged looks.
Remembering that little argument from years ago when they had been deciding which school to send their children to.
And Sirius, seeing those looks, immediately answered:
"No! There's no need for that. We'll just put up a giant tent and have the professors teach here. Outdoors."
He said it immediately.
As though he were reliving memories of an old war that had brought nothing but calamity and trauma.
Unfortunately for him, nobody paid any attention.
"Maybe," Wanda said far too calmly.
Sirius looked horrified.
"No."
He said it again, but Narcissa interrupted him.
"There are schools with rather elegant uniforms. Though I wonder which one..."
"Alright, alright. I'll pay for the entire reconstruction. We'll make it faster, stronger, and the greatest magical school in the world, okay?" Sirius said as if desperately trying to prevent a massive war.
The ladies around him looked mildly annoyed for a moment.
But fortunately they did not add anything else.
Perhaps accepting that compromise.
Which made Sirius let out a sigh of relief.
The children did not understand Sirius' fear.
But it always seemed connected to some argument the mothers had in the past that had apparently traumatized more than one person.
Still, they could not help being interested in what Sirius would actually do.
Though first they had plenty of time to enjoy their holidays.
"Finally, some peaceful vacations," Harry murmured with a smile.
As if the world itself had decided to prove him wrong, the sphere floating above Wanda's hand cracked.
A tiny crack.
So small that no one noticed it.