When he finally arrived at her office, Tonks wasn’t alone. Hermione was in there with red-stained eyes and so was Draco, Astoria with her baby Scorpius in her arms, Andromeda with Teddy and Delphini, and Lucius. The old man looked better than the last time Harry had seen him, and he held no hate or disdain in his eyes for Harry. He merely lingered like a ghost at the back of the room that some people were clearly choosing to ignore. The same could not be said for Draco, who was glaring at Harry like he was a venomous villain. Astoria was near the point of tears as well but seemed to be holding them back as she gently rocked Scorpius back and forth.
In the midst of them, Tonks looked inconsolable. She was lost in a state of shock, but both Teddy and Delphini exploded with excitement upon seeing Harry. They ran towards him and wrapped their tiny arms around his legs.
“I knew you’d come back,” Delphini announced loudly.
Harry smiled down at her, but any happiness he felt dried up at the sight of so many hurt people around him. Daphne hadn’t dared tell a single one of them of his survival, and it was clear that they were all filled with hurt.
As he patted Delphini and Teddy’s backs, he offered everyone else a weak smile. “I’m sorry for—”
He saw the blow before it was coming but did nothing to stop it. Hermione came flying at him like a woman possessed as she slapped him firmly across his face.
“Damn you, Harry Potter!” She half yelled and half sobbed.
Harry took a couple steps back, but Hermione followed him forward. She raised her hand to smack him again, but he snatched her wrist with one hand and wrapped the other behind her back. He pulled her in for a tight hug and grimaced as he whispered to her.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated again and again.
His words seemed to have little effect beyond the first instance of them, but that was enough to reduce Hermione to tears again. She cried and clutched at his chest, barely standing on her own two feet.
By the time she began to settle down, the others were growing restless.
“You’re a real bastard,” Draco told Harry bluntly.
“How could you make Daphne worry over you like this?” Astoria demanded of him.
“Mummy knew,” Delphini blurted out.
Another wave of reactions crossed everyone’s faces, much too quickly for Harry to decipher.
“I’m sure she did,” Astoria smiled lightly at Delphini, doing her best to hide her anger towards Harry.
“A little warning for us would’ve been nice,” Andromeda commented sarcastically. “All those nights I spent consoling my daughter…”
Harry knew that his words wouldn’t do enough to ease the pain he’d put them through these past few weeks, but it was all he had to offer. “I would have loved nothing more than to have told you all, but then mine and Daphne’s enemies might have seen through my ruse. Any hint of suspicion that I’d somehow survived could’ve led them to change plans suddenly or act with so much caution that I couldn’t uncover their plans. Maybe I could’ve found out what they were planning regardless, but we’ll never know. What I do know is that I was able to uncover everything when no one else could.”
“I’m truly sorry that I hurt all of you. I can’t begin to imagine just how much I put you all through, but I don’t regret that I did it. Britain needs to change for the better, and the only way to do that is through the Ministry. I’ve made sure to stop any threats to Daphne and the Ministry at large, and now our country can finally change for the better. I hate that it had to come at the expense of all of you, but I had to do what was right for everyone.”
“Do you really think that’s enough to make up for what you put us all through?” Andromeda asked with a chastising tone.
“No,” Harry answered bluntly. “I knew that my decision would hurt all of you, and I did it anyway. I’ve given my reasons for why I’ve done what I did. It’s up to all of you to choose whether or not you can accept that. I’d certainly like it if you could, but I’ll also understand if you can’t.”
“I just still can’t believe that you didn’t tell us anything,” Tonks finally spoke, tears streaming down her face. “You know just how hard it was after I lost my husband, and I remember seeing just how much you suffered when Sirius, your godfather, died. Think about what you put Teddy through!”
Harry looked at the young boy but surprisingly saw no hurt in his eyes. He went over and hugged his mother.
“I’m okay, mum,” Teddy said honestly. “Delphi told me that he wasn’t gone, but she asked me to keep it a secret—”
Delphini suddenly looked a little guilty and very frightened. Seeing that, Harry held out his hand for her to take and offered her a comforting smile. “It’s okay,” he murmured to her.
Even with Teddy’s assurances though, Harry knew that Tonks had still suffered that worry. Teddy had kept the secret that Delphini had asked him to and had remained all the better for it, but Tonks never knew that.
“What I did wasn’t fair on any of you,” Harry said to the group, but his gaze was focused on Tonks. She looked back at him with watery eyes, a mixture of emotions swirling within them. “But I felt it was necessary. Even after it’s all been done, I still believe it was.”
“Bully for you,” Astoria glared. “I’m so glad that Harry bloody Potter could save the day once again, never having to actually deal with what all of us went through. My mum nearly ended up back at St Mungo’s from the stress of it all. And Draco spent countless nights away from me and our baby to try to do anything he could to help Daphne find peace.”
Harry didn’t want to make any more excuses. He took all of Astoria’s comments on the chin, but that only seemed to make her angrier. Were she not holding her baby in her arms, he feared that she would’ve cursed him thrice over by now. Perhaps it was deserved; his overwhelming desire to seek to reform Britain had given him an all-too easy excuse to ignore the reality that his friends and family would have to suffer through.
But it had been worth it to quell the final rebellion against his and Daphne’s rule over Britain.
“He did what he did,” Draco muttered, not entirely looking sympathetic towards Harry. “But it worked.”
Astoria turned on him like he’d betrayed her. Behind her, Lucius cleared his throat.
“Politics is not for the kind hearted,” he said quietly. “At least not right now. It takes shrewdness and cunning to—”
“Enough,” Andromeda snapped. “We’re not here to excuse him for what he’s done.”
The door behind Harry opened as Daphne stepped inside. “I’d say that he’s due some thanks for preventing the deaths of thousands,” she replied to Andromeda with a firm stare. The older woman refused to back down though as she stared right back at the new Minister for Magic.
“He caused so much sadness and hurt—”
“For the safety of all of us!” Daphne snapped. “Think about more than just yourselves for a moment. Yes, what Harry did hurt all of us. I spend so many nights lying awake imagining if I could’ve done anything differently to save him or prevent his ‘death’ from happening in the first place. Merlin knows how many tears I shed over him. But when I learned that he was alive, I did feel a bit angry. But I was mostly grateful that he was still amongst all of us. When he came and explained everything to me, I understood why he’d done what he did. As much as it hurt, it helped save the lives of so many more than us.”
“He minimised his risks,” Draco commented, still not looking happy about what he was saying. “It made Orpington overconfident.”
“And gained pull for Daphne over Amelia,” Lucius added.
Hermione looked at them like they were crazy. “Do you think that excuses him for what he put us through?”
“No,” Harry answered.
“But it does explain things,” Daphne added.
Hermione looked frustrated. “I can’t deal with this right now. There’s too much work left to be done now that you’re the Minister for Magic, Daphne. I’ll see you later in your office.”
She brushed past everyone as she headed out the door. Harry grimaced at her back. He hoped that time would help to resolve this rift. Hermione wasn’t the type to leave things like this lying for long. And besides, Harry was bound to interact with her more frequently from now on.
“We need to go,” Daphne whispered into Harry’s ear. “You need to accept the pardon I signed for you and deal with quite a few other matters.”
Harry grimaced at the room. Even if Draco and Lucius were understanding, Astoria, Tonks, and Andromeda were not quite there yet. Astoria still seemed quite furious over the whole thing while Tonks continued to linger in her sorrow. Andromeda was worried about her daughter and grandson and acted as the protective mother, shielding both of them from any harm.
“I’m truly sorry,” Harry reiterated. “But we need to go. There’s so much work to be done. I expect we’ll hold a few celebrations for this victory in the coming days, including a more private one. I’ll be happy to answer any more of your questions then.”
He didn’t get much of a response out of anyone other than Delphini squeezing his hand. He gave everyone one last smile and turned before they could see the pain in his expression.
Everything that he’d hoped for had come at a cost. But just knowing that it was anger towards him rather than any of his loved one’s deaths made dealing with their frustrations so much easier.
It still didn’t feel good, but it felt much better than staring at their graves.
As they exited Tonks’ office, Daphne took Delphini’s free hand, and they walked together through the halls of the ministry. Several people stopped to watch and offered applause or cries of approval. Most were directed towards Daphne’s ascension as the newest Minister for Magic, but a surprising number welcomed Harry back to the world of the living.
Together, the three of them entered the lift together. Time would heal the wounds that he’d caused, but Harry knew that everyone would be better off for it in the end.
With Rhys’ death, his faction within the Wizengamot would crumble. Half of them would be rounded up for treason by the end of the week, and that would give Daphne the chance to introduce new seats into the Wizengamot for muggleborns and half-bloods who’d historically been kept out of the government’s decision-making processes. Some of Amelia’s lesser supporters would flock to Daphne’s side as well as a few of the remaining traditionalist pure-bloods, giving Daphne just the start she needed to begin enacting the changes that were necessary for this world.
Harry wasn’t so naive as to believe that merely introducing pro-muggleborn and anti-dark magic legislation would be enough to secure Daphne’s rule. There would always be opponents seeking to find any chink in her armour that they could exploit for personal gain. However, it was a start for a better future. And so long as he and Daphne could keep the Wizengamot in check, they could continue to reshape Britain in the way it ought to have been changed after Voldemort’s death. The fact that Britain had still suffered so much since then was more proof that Kingsley’s previous meagre efforts had been far too lenient.
They needed popularity. Being a family would be a great part of that. Their marriage would boost Daphne’s numbers, and with the criticisms against Delphini having dwindled down to the point that they were a fringe take, the future looked bright for the three of them. They would become Britain’s starring family and act as a model of progressiveness for others to follow.
The lift carried them to Level One: Minister for Magic and Support Staff.
Chaos was too subtle a word for what was occurring within these offices. So many workers were rushing back and forth to help deal with the huge number of witches and wizards celebrating in the atrium, and the rest were organising whatever orders that Daphne had given them in the brief time that she’d become the newest Minister for Magic.
Harry knew that the transition happened almost instantly after any election took place, but seeing it in person was quite surprising. People seemed to rush from office to office, gathering information or distributing it.
And in the midst of it all stood Kingsley Shacklebolt.
He looked more relaxed than Harry had seen him in ages. Since the election cycle began, he’d reduced his day-to-day appointments significantly and resolved himself to prepare the government for a smooth transition. His efforts seemed to have worked as well as they could have despite the chaos around him. He didn’t seem bothered in the slightest as everyone ran around him, like he was a tall boulder in the middle of a rushing lake.
“Harry,” Kingsley greeted him kindly with a firm handshake. “You can’t begin to imagine how glad I am to know that you are alive.”
Harry offered the man a smile despite his misgivings over how he’d operated the Ministry over the past several years. Regardless of his ineffectiveness, Daphne was in charge now, and she and Harry were going to right Britain onto the path that it always should’ve been on.
“I feel the same way. It wasn’t easy to get out of Nerys Orpington’s trap.”
Kingsley glanced over his shoulder back towards his office. “They’re still busy pulling the artwork off of the walls. Your resurgence caused quite a stir. I’ve already spoken with Daphne about it and learned why you did everything. I’m not here to judge you, but I do hope that you know what you’re in for.”
“Constant questioning from the press? Friends debating my every decision. Every voter loudly declaring their opinion?”
“All of that and more,” Kingsley chuckled. “I handled it as well as I could’ve, but I know that the two of you will do better than I ever did. Just remember what’s truly important here.”
“Family,” Daphne replied, squeezing Delphini’s hand.
“Exactly,” Kingsley said. “There won’t be many moments like this, so enjoy them while you can. After tonight, everything will be different.”
“We will,” Harry assured the man.
“Then go forth and change our world for the better,” Kingsley said.
Harry and Daphne intended to do just that. They walk towards Daphne’s new office as Kingsley headed for the lift.
In a matter of hours, Daphne’s staff would replace those who’d been loyal to Kingsley and quickly ensure that everything she wished would come to pass.
They entered Daphne’s rapidly-emptying office and found little more than the large oak desk, a high-backed chair, a scroll of parchment, and a quill and inkwell. Daphne lifted the quill, dabbed it a few times in the inkwell, and handed it off to Harry before unfurling the scroll.
His eyes scanned the parchment. It was a blanket pardon for everything he’d done under his purview as an Auror. From his time sabotaging Dawlish to pretending to be dead, all of it was covered under the language of this pardon. It’d already been signed by Daphne, and there was a blank space waiting for him.
Harry plucked the quill from Daphne’s fingers and signed his name.
“It’s done then,” she smiled at him. “I’ve already named you to be my Advisor to the Minister for Magic. By this time tomorrow once the press reports on everything we’ve done, Britain will know that we’re in charge of it.”
What a beautiful future they held in the palms of their hands.
Never again would Britain suffer the violence of a dark lord ruling it. Muggleborns and half-bloods would gain a voice within their government, and the dark artefacts and evil arts that’d plagued certain pure-bloods would be squashed before they could find power once more.
It was exactly the future that Harry imagined.
There would be thousands of smaller issues and details to be worked out, but Daphne and her team could help to resolve all of that. Harry’s job from this point forward was to cleanse Britain of whatever evil remained and to aid Daphne in their goal to make Britain the perfect place to live.
As Daphne sat down in the chair behind her new desk, Harry helped Delphini up onto her lap.
This was the start of something utterly wonderful.
Harry couldn’t wait to begin.