=== February 22, 1997 ===
Voldemort's body falls to the ground with barely a sound. It's only when Harry sees his head lay there unmoving that he feels the release of tension deep inside. Suddenly feeling completely exhausted he drops Atrunant, the blade clanging on the ground.
Hermione walks over to him and hugs him. "You did it."
"Is it really over?" Harry asks, his voice little more than a whisper.
Hermione looks at Snape, still frozen in place. "Only one way to find out." She summons Munin to her hand as she walks over to him.
Hermione unfreezes him and he slumps to the ground. She cuts off his left sleeve, here the mark was his skin is blistered as if burned. "It's over, the mark is gone." She says.
"And Snape?" Kingsley asks.
"He didn't make it." Hermione answers. "Could be blood loss, or losing his master that finished him."
Everyone nods. "What do we do now?" Harry asks.
"First," Malachi says as he walks over and grabs his magical prosthetic off the floor. "I suggest we go check on our children." He shrugs off the Death Eater robes and hands the arm to Hermione, who takes it and puts it on him. "Then, we start cleaning up."
#####
Thanks to a spell in the grimoire, Harry and Hermione arrive at the Daycare looking no worse for wear.
"Mum!" Rose shouts as she runs up and hugs Hermione.
At the same time Iris shouts: "Dad!" As she runs up and hugs Harry.
They both hug their children tightly. "You two should be very proud of your children." McGonagall says.
"Professor?" Hermione asks, confused and worried. "What are you talking about?"
#####
Harry and Hermione are sitting on a loveseat, McGonagall sits across from them, the children are off playing. "Let's get this straight, you're telling us that Iris stunned two Death Eaters?" Hermione asks.
"I only saw the second one." McGonagall says, "but she spoke the spell clearly, as if she had been practicing it."
"I didn't teach her." Hermione says.
"Me either." Harry says.
"That fits, she claims she just knew the spell." McGonagall says.
"We'll ask her about that later." Hermione says. "We need to get the other students back here."
"I already sent a patronus to Missus Weasley, the students are already on their way." McGonagall says.
"Then I think we should all try and get some sleep." Harry says, Hermione and McGonagall nod in agreement.
=== February 23, 1997 ===
Breakfast the next morning was a somber affair. The word of Dumbledore's death had reached the students. Harry and Hermione sit with the twins between them when a couple of younger students, a boy and a girl, come up to them.
"Pardon us." The girl says.
"Can we help you?" Hermione asks.
"Is it true you were there when the Headmaster died?" The boy asks.
"I was," Harry answers.
"How…" The girl starts to ask, but stumbles over the words.
"Voldemort.* Harry answers. "He used the killing curse."
"Thank you." They both say then run off to join their friends.
"That was nice of you." Hermione says.
"Answering them?" Harry asks.
"You know what I mean." Hermione answers.
Harry nods. "Slytherin has a bad enough reputation, no need to add to it."
Hermione nods as she looks over at the empty table. The Slytherin students would return from the safe house this afternoon. "Hopefully Draco can help change that."
"May I have your attention please!" McGonagall calls out, and the already quiet Great Hall goes completely silent. "Due to recent circumstances classes are cancelled until further notice. If you have any questions please contact your head of house." With that she steps away.
"So no classes." Harry says.
"I'm thinking we should go around helping clean up the castle." Hermione says. "Girls, do you want to join us, or would you rather go to the Daycare?"
Iris and Rose look at each other and in unison respond: "Daycare!"
Hermione chuckles slightly. "I shouldn't be surprised."
#####
Thankfully the castle had received only minor damage except where the final battle took place. It's here that McGonagall and Fudge find Harry and Hermione sitting on the floor, the room still a mess.
"So, this is the spot of the final battle?" Fudge says getting their attention.
"It is." Harry says as he gets up, then helps Hermione up.
"You could let someone else fix this, you know." McGonagall says. "I know just being in this room can't be easy."
Hermione shakes her head. "The school is a second home to both of us, we just needed a moment." With that she summons the grimoire, her whole body glows blue for a second then a small wave of magic comes off her. As the wave passes through the room it fixes it.
"Excellent spell work as always, Missus Potter." McGonagall says.
"Thank you." Hermione says.
"As impressive as that was, that wasn't the reason I came here." Fudge says.
"What's going on?" Hermione asks.
"Hogwarts needs you to appoint a new headmaster, or headmistress." Fudge says.
"Let's head to the greenhouse." Harry says. "Hannah and Neville are probably there."
"I'll send Amanda a patronus asking her to join us." Hermione says.
"Will you two join us?" Harry asks. "Don't imagine this will take long." Fudge and McGonagall nod.
#####
The group enters the greenhouse, and finds Amanda there with Neville and Hannah. "Good, we're all here." Harry says then he nods to Hermione.
"Professor McGonagall, as acting Headmistress, do you desire to take over the role full time?" Hermione asks.
"I would be honored." McGonagall answers.
"In that case Heir Ravenclaw chooses you." Hermione says.
"Heir Gryffindor seconds it." Harry says.
"Heir Hufflepuff has no objections." Hannah says.
"Neither does Governor Slytherin." Amanda says.
"I, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, bear witness to this, and gladly name Minerva McGonagall as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts."
McGonagall nods. "Thank you all for this honor. There are many things I need to take care of now that I have the position, I wonder if I could ask you for help."
"What can we do for you pro…Headmistress?" Harry asks.
"Before we can restart classes we need teachers for the rest of the year. Defense, Transfiguration and Potions are now all empty." McGonagall says.
"What happened to Slughorn?" Amanda asks.
"He left a note saying he quit." McGonagall answers.
They all nod, then remain silent.
"Minister, would it be possible to get a list of people qualified for these positions?" Harry asks.
"Not until the Ministry is fully restored, which unfortunately, is going to take awhile." Fudge answers.
"How long would it take you to get the list once the Ministry is fixed?" Hermione asks.
"A couple hours." Fudge answers.
Hermione nods. "Very well, take us to the Ministry."
"What?" Fudge asks, surprised.
"I want to see the damage. I may be able to fix it." Hermione says.
#####
"Here is where the fiendfyre started." Fudge says as he leads Harry and Hermione into the scorched room.
Hermione goes to the middle of the room. "The wardstone was here, I can feel the residual energy." She closes her eyes and breathes. "I can fix the building, and if you can get a stone I can restore the wards."
Fudge sends a patronus out. "You'll have the stone momentarily."
"Very well." Hermione says.
A few minutes later Kingsley appears. "I have the stone." He says, "where do you want it?"
"Put it right here." Hermione points to a spot next to her.
Kingsley walks over and puts a small stone in the spot. "Here?" Hermione nods, then Kingsley returns the stone to its true size. The stone now touches the ceiling and takes up almost the whole entire room.
Hermione reaches out for Harry's hand, he grabs her hand as the grimoire appears. Both of them glow blue as runes begin to appear on the massive stone. Small waves of magical energy ripple off of them as they do they start to repair the ministry bit by bit.
Within minutes the damage is gone and the stone glowing with too many runes to count. Hermione lets go of Harry's hand as the glow fades away. "It's done." Hermione says.
#####
It's dinner time before Harry and Hermione return to the Great Hall. They see Draco and Amanda sitting at the Slytherin table and head over there. "Look who decided to show up." Amanda says.
"We were wondering where you were." Draco says.
"We took a nap after fixing the Ministry." Hermione answers as she sits down.
"How are things?" Harry asks as he sits next to Hermione.
"Since most of what's left of Slytherin listens to me the Headmistress has asked that I serve as de facto head of Slytherin until a proper one is found." Draco answers.
"Let us know if we can help." Hermione says. "We're the de facto heads of Gryffindor."
Draco nods. "Makes sense."
They all eat, as they do a scroll is dropped in front of Hermione. She picks it up seeing the Minister's seal and opens it. "It's the list Fudge promised us." Hermione says as she hands it to Harry.
"What list?" Draco asks.
"This one." Harry says holding it up. "It lists people that can fill the vacant teaching positions."
"Does it say which house they had been in?" Draco asks.
"Yes, and yes some of them were Slytherin.* Harry answers. "In fast your mom and your aunt are on here for potions."
"We should ask my aunt, she used to be a healer." Draco says.
"Would you write to her and ask her?" Harry asks and Draco nods. "That leaves Defense and transfiguration."
Hermione taps the list. "We'll start with this one."
#####
Harry and Hermione knock on Malachi's office door. "Enter." A female voice says surprising both of them. Inside they find Cheshire sitting at the desk.
"Cheshire, it's so good to see you!" Hermione says as she goes and hugs her.
Cheshire hugs her back. "I missed a lot apparently, you look ready to pop."
"I am." Hermione admits. "I have a few more hours then I will go into labor."
"I thought you hated divination." Cheshire says.
"Oh, no, since I knew I was going to need to fight I took the potion that gaurantees I can't go into labor for 24 hours." Hermione says. "The unfortunate side effect is that the majority of women go into labor the second it wears off."
Cheshire nods. "Now, given that there's no classes I can assume you came here for a reason."
"Actually, we did." Harry admits. "We were hoping that you might be willing to fill the role of transfiguration teacher for the rest of the year."
"If Minerva is willing to lend me her lesson plans, then I'd be happy to do that." Cheshire says.
"I'm sure the Headmistress would be happy to do that." Hermione says.
"Good." Cheshire says.
"Also, last we heard the Lupins were staying on Malachi's property." Harry says.."Do you have a way to contact them?"
"I do." Cheshire answers.
"We wish to talk to Tonks, err Missus Tonks-Lupin." Hermione says.
"Potions or defense?' Cheshire asks.
"Defense." Harry replies.
"I'll pass along the message." Cheshire says.
"Thank you." Hermione says. "You'll need to talk to the Headmistress to make everything official."
Cheshire nods. "I will shortly."