Chapter 730: Epilogue: Potter

It wasn’t until nine o’clock in the evening that Harry got rid of the back-to-back drinking, there was no way around it, it was his last day on duty, so all his colleagues were enthusiastic, the last scene he remembered was Hermione looking at him with a small smile, which was followed by a constantly increasing goblet of wine shoved under his nose, it WAS Ron! Harry thought with gritted teeth, red hair, and grey freckles, there was absolutely no mistaking it.

“Mr. Potter, are you sober? Ms. Granger asked me to drop you off on the island.” A voice said, and Harry jerked back as two staff members stood behind him. “Oh, thanks.” He muttered while rubbing his throbbing forehead in the process.

“You’re welcome, we happened to head to the island for some business.” The man said, and they immediately left with him.

Harry walked aimlessly along the lane, passing along flowering shrubs and tall trees, thanking Professor Burbage, and all the herbology professionals involved in planting greenery … After walking for a while, he sobered up a little and came to a public broom stall under the soft glow of a magic lamp. Ten minutes later, Harry knocked on the door of his home on the floating island. The door opened and Ginny glared at him with crossed arms.

“Who am I supposed to seek revenge on?” She asked, like an angry female cat.

“Ron.” Harry said achingly and Ginny appeared to be exasperated, “I knew it.” She welcomed Harry in and sat him on a couch, Harry saw a half-written press release on the table.

“… The now-retired Viktor Krum, who will not be competing in the 426th Quidditch World Cup, has said in an interview that he will regret missing this event during his career.”

Harry took a sip of tea as he read. Clanking sounds rang out in the kitchen, and before he could finish reading the article, Ginny came out with an omelette and grilled sausage, “Thanks, dear!” Harry immediately wolfed them down.

“Are the kids asleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Krum couldn’t make it to the game?”

“Yeah, his scores have been dropping badly in the last few years, I guess his body got strained down by intense training and back-to-back games, I’ve analysed all his footage – his desire to win is too much, it’s probably good for him to have a few years off.” Ginny judged with a professional eye, having made it into the Holyhead Harpies right after graduation as a professional Quidditch player and later became a Quidditch columnist for the Daily Prophet, her judgment is quite accurate.

“By the way, guess who I ran into during the day?” Ginny asked.

“Ahem,” Harry asked with some concern as he choked on his omelette, “It’s not Snape, is it?”

“What made you think of him?” Ginny gave Harry a friendly pat on the back, and after feeling the force on his back, Harry decided not to reveal the fact that Snape might be coming to Lily’s birthday party for now (Snape many times called her a stupid girl).

“It’s Luna, Luna!” She giggled, “She’s busy tending to little babies.”

“What?” Harry said in disbelief, spitting out the half-bitten sausage, then he thoughtfully mused, “Magical creature cubs, I guess?”

Ginny cleared her throat.

“… In the end, they brought back a couple of blue gems and unknown feathers from the rainforest, which turned out to be the eggs of some unknown magical creature … Well, not that they have noticed it earlier, actually, Luna embedded one of the gems in her dress, I heard It was Rolf’s idea. Probably because of the relatively great magic fluctuations on the island, the bird’s egg hatched itself while they were shopping.”

Harry listened with amazement.

“That’s quite a pretty bird, it gives off a colourful glow,” Ginny said with a wide grin, “You might keep an eye out for it, Luna changed the eggshell into a brooch, I think it just matches her one-of-a-kind dress … ”

Later that night, Harry stood at the bay window, looking out at the night view of the island.

Ginny hugged him from behind. They just snuggled together in silence, enjoying the tranquillity of the night. There are several buildings with shimmering lights in the deep blue sky, shining brighter than the stars in the sky at sea, and Harry knew that one of them belonged to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

“What’s on your mind?” Ginny asked.

“Headmaster Dumbledore.” Harry gave an unanticipated answer, Ginny looked up in confusion and Harry sighed, “I only now started to realize what a valuable thing Dumbledore left me back then.” He said discreetly, “It’s the memories.”

“Memories?”

“Hmm.” Harry murmured, “Professor Hap had reminded me of that once, but I didn’t pay much attention to it before, I just thought about finishing Dumbledore’s biography as best I possibly could. On my graduation journey, I went to the place where he and Grindelwald dueled back then, after that I have travelled to Brazil, to the United States, to Nepal, following the footsteps of the legend along the way … Its effects have only become apparent in the past few years, Professor Hap said that some of my magic is approaching the level of an Archmage now, not only the Patronus which I have often got a flash of insight during my training …”

“Let’s go back to school sometimes,” Ginny said softly, “Luna told me that quite a few of the professors are planning to retire.”

“Well,” Harry paused hesitantly, “it’s best to wait until the conclusion of the World Cup, I won’t be able to make time for it for a while in the near future. Professor Hap said that there might be some people who would attempt to disrupt the opening ceremony.”

“What do you mean?” Ginny lost her tongue, “But – how is it – is this intel true? The floating island has never been subject to an attack before.”

Harry was equally confused, but for some strange reason. He recalled the small note that the Professor had given him, which had precisely recorded the coordinates of twelve locations on the floating island, which included the Joint Wizard-Muggle Hospital, the Headquarters of the International Pan-Magical Alliance, the Headquarters of the Future World Corporation, the Lunar Support Center, and several other iconic buildings.

“It might be possible that these are the locations where the riots will be caused on the opening ceremony day.” The professor said vaguely.

But just like Ginny put it, how did the professor know such detailed information? Memory magic? But this is something that hasn’t happened yet, and with such detailed information, surely it can’t be prophesied, right? The ride on the broomstick around the island just now had provided Harry with some inkling – or perhaps it was because he had thought about Hermione – that he suspected that the professor might secretly possess a time-turner, but the problem was, that thing could only let you go back in time, not to look into the future.

Well, at least judging from the professor’s attitude, it ain’t much of trouble …

“Probably, he might have spotted some clues,” Harry shook his head, without voicing out the doubts in his mind. “He put me in charge of this whole mess, it seems like a test. I’m just concerned about the lack of manpower, there are over two hundred Aurors and a thousand Hit Wizards on the island, but this number is still far too low compared to the influx of visitors who would be coming in during the Quidditch World Cup.”

Ginny racked her brain and then her eyebrows gradually relaxed.

“How come there won’t be enough, this is your home turf.”

“My home turf?” Harry repeated, and mused, he didn’t know if Ginny was referring to the residents of the island, but they are not warriors, warriors … a thought flashed through and Harry’s eyes lit up a bit, “Hogwarts! The Frontline Lookout Club and the Ouroboros Club!”

Ginny pursed her lips as she added.

“And the Order of the Phoenix. Didn’t Sirius whine about retirement being boring?” “He’s enjoying it,” Harry said on the spot, “He even turned down the offer of an Exclusive Wand Academy, not even willing to become the Headmaster.”

“But I don’t think he would turn down a surprise adventure, would he?” Ginny said with a raised eyebrow, and Harry who thought of his godfather’s character, nodded in agreement, “That’s true.”

The Exclusive Wand Academy is the only place on the island where magic is taught, but its students are somewhat unique – it enrols wizards who are unable to use their magic properly (commonly known as Squibs), both children and adults. Compared to other magic schools, the floating island has a unique advantage: it has the highest density of wizards in the world, and with the floating island’s ability to collect escaping magic, it can better replenish the consumption of magic within the exclusive wand, but due to the increasing demand, the number of students enrolled in this special school is limited to no more than two thousand people from all over the world each year. This school was established with the objective of helping squibs to acquire the most basic spell-casting abilities.

“So don’t worry, I’m sure you can do it.” Ginny encouraged, “You’re a hero who conquered the Dark Lord.”

Harry touched his nose, finding his nose a little itchy, he muttered in a small voice, “not many people would believe that and that happened when Voldemort has terribly weakened–” Ginny blocked his mouth, and only after a long time did she free her hands.

“Well, I even went to visit Astoria in the hospital.” Ginny said under her breath, both arms slung around Harry’s neck.

Harry barely managed to calm his pounding heart and asked in response to Ginny’s words, “Is she okay?” He had seen Astoria once last year, and her face showed a tendency to transform toward the pale colour that is unique to the Malfoys.

“Kind of bad,” Ginny said, “It’s a peculiar curse, there’s no way to tell exactly what it is anymore, apart from the fact that it is tied to blood and magic, moreover the curse is invisible and shapeless, ingrained deeply throughout the Greengrass family bloodline, and it just happened to… … have chosen her, her sister Daphne is just fine.”

Ginny tightened her grip and Harry gasped a little, but he could feel her dread. Harry couldn’t help but think of a young girl who attended school two years behind him, and he found himself most impressed by the image of Astoria standing on a golem snake, the prize she had won from a dueling tournament, which she used to slither around the Black Lake. She was very outgoing and cheerful, simply very different compared to her current weak appearance.

An incurable curse, Harry mentally mumbled slowly, some unformed thoughts swirled in his mind, the Greengrass family, Malfoy, Professor Hap … At this point, Ginny hesitated and said, “Albus has made a new friend.”

“You mean little Scorpius?” Harry was thinking about something on his mind when he blurted out right now.

Ginny shot him a suspicious look.

“I don’t know when you guys got so close?”

…

As he lay in bed, Harry mulled over in his head what he needed to do tomorrow.

First of all, he had to report at the floating island headquarters, although the official appointment would not be announced until some time later. Still, with Professor Hap’s throwing away tedious hassles attitude, he needs to start his duty in advance. The good thing is that after all these years he is already familiar with the island environment, but at least, he needs to meet the foreign Aurors who have been rotated over this year; in addition, he needs to make a trip to each of the twelve locations mentioned in the note —- Today the first place he went to after returning from the hospital without success was Lupin’s house. Little Teddy was very likeable and much more well-behaved than his own two brats; after that, he went to the Lunar Support Center, where someone seemed to have mentioned to him some kind of space island project, was it about creating an island in space? But he was immediately called back to Britain to take charge of the last operation before leaving his post, so he didn’t hear much.

Harry’s thoughts began to stray.

At the farewell banquet, Ron said he did not want to be promoted, although it would be nice to be the head of the department, he did not want to work as hard as Percy, who took the ‘earning minister of magic position’ as his family mission; due to overwork Percy already have gray hair. The discerning eyes can see that Hermione who is a senior deputy minister has greater hope than him … Harry thought of Malfoy and Astoria, in a half-asleep state, he made a decision in his mind to find Professor Hap to talk, no, it is better to ask Hermione … Professor’s current state is a bit scary. Harry’s body trembled. If he did not know that no one in the world can hurt him, he would have suspected that the professor at some point became a ghost.

He muttered a couple of grunts and brushed the outrageous notion aside. A baby’s babbling was heard in the corner as Lily Potter rolled over. Harry sniffed the scent of Ginny’s hair and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Harry was awakened by the sound of a baby crying, he yawned, put on his glasses, and saw Ginny attending to his baby girl in her pyjamas, “Look at that.” Ginny said happily, and Harry saw the little baby moisten her lips with saliva, then opened and closed her lips like a little fish and spat out a bubble. She giggled on her own.

“That’s cute.” Harry said, “Reminds me of the merpeople in the Black Lake.”

At breakfast, the family sat together and watched the magic TV while they ate. A very passionate voice was announcing the morning news, “Eight million people are expected to come to the island! It’s difficult to imagine this, although the floating island has been receiving tourists from all over the world, it’s the first time that it has been opened to the public on such a large scale. Imagine, on average, a square kilometre will be packed with 10,000 people, I heard that this is common in large cities, so are they living in a sandbox?”

It was Lee Jordan, Harry lamented as he watched the TV host, who had barely changed.

Lee Jordan was in the second group that landed on the island – the floating island has undergone several important changes over the years, each phase adding significant and far-reaching initiatives. The first phase started when Professor Hap built the island when one-third of the thousand American wizard families remained together with those wizards who chose to stay after participating in the Christmas bonfire night which made up the first inhabitants of the island.

The second phase was marked by the relocation of the Future World Corporation headquarters when a large number of scientists were invited to study a way to combine magic and science in a cooperative manner. In this process, some spells shined, such as the Permanent Sticking Charm. The way in which the scientists used magic spells innovatively to create machines was an eye-opener for the wizards. As the headquarters of the International Pan-Magical Alliance settled along with various large corporations and national organizations appearing on the island, there was a serious shortage of wizards, so the wizards were recruited from all over the world to settle and work on the island.

It is worth mentioning that there were many squibs among them.

But they prefer to call themselves “Magic-insensitive Wizards”, the most famous representative of this group is Winnie Valentine, one of the teachers of the Exclusive Wand Academy, who came up with this term and whose teaching philosophy is “to integrate wizards into all walks of life”, and she is expected to win next year’s ‘Dumbledore Award’.

“… flim has sparked a new wave of cinema watchers throughout the entire wizarding community, I think there is no need to mention which film I am referring to, yes, it is Harry Potter.” The two kids at the table immediately perked up their ears. “Mafalda Prewett is four years younger than me and there were rumours floating around about how she didn’t get an invitation to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley’s wedding, but my good buddy informed me that this was nonsense, and she just couldn’t make it to the pledge session because of a sudden nasty ailment that prevented her from riding her broom … ”

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and smiled.

Six-year-old James looked left and right and exclaimed incredulously, “So it was you guys who did that? Or was it, Uncle Fred and George? Gosh, I keep telling Teddy that I adore her-”

“It’s no big deal,” Ginny said absently, “you just adore the story she wrote, and the story was written about your father.” She leaned over to look at the crib, the baby inside blinked her bright eyes and stared at her. Ginny, however, frowned, “That’s weird, the milk in the bottle hasn’t decreased at all.”

She took the bottle to give her a taste, but the baby kept avoiding the nipple, with two small eyebrows furrowed tightly together while her limbs were kicking and thrashing. Ginny shot a suspicious look at James, who is undoubtedly the naughtiest and most hyperactive in the family – as if he’d been infected by his godfather.

James swore. “It’s not me!” The eyes turned to Albus. “I heard Albus saying he missed the taste of the milk bottle.” James grinned and mocked, which in his mind apparently a sign of lack of maturity. On the other hand, Harry’s mind drifted off, the reason was found, he wondered if this is considered a talent of Potioneer? But maybe it can be used to persuade Ginny … Five-year-old Albus immediately lowered his head in embarrassment as he put down his fork & knife, and whispered, “I, I’m done eating.”

“Can I go play near the hospital?”

Harry and Ginny exchanged a look, “To meet a friend?” “Um, yeah.” Albus said evasively. “Come back early in the afternoon, we’re going to Lupin’s house for a visit.”

“I don’t think he’ll have time for us,” James said with a straight face, “he’s too busy taking care of all of his fluffy do…” When he saw the look in his mother’s eyes, he covered his mouth with both hands and mumbled through his fingers, “I mean, his little problems.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile. He took out his wand and flicked it, a thin golden thread wrapped around the hem of Albus’s shirt. Then with another flick, a second thin thread wrapped around James.

“What is this?” The two brothers asked in unison.

“Trace magic.” Harry replied.

“Cool!” James gave a thumbs up.

————–

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