Chapter Text
August 19, 2017
“Where’s Albus?” Harry asked.
“Upstairs with Sigourney and Scorpius,” said Petunia, as she poured him a cup of tea with three sugars, neatly ignoring Dudley’s and Millicent’s twin looks of disapproval. Petunia flicked her wand and sent everyone’s cup floating to them.
Harry took his, handed Draco’s to him. After four years, the sting was gone.
Millicent and Hermione didn’t seem to have ever experienced it, or if they did, they hid it well. The loss of magic hit Harry the hardest of all of them, which surprised him. Before all this, he would’ve said Draco would’ve taken the longest to adjust.
But Draco was a Slytherin, and they were nothing if not adaptable.
“Thank you, Petunia,” said Millicent, moving a blooming potted cactus out of the way to set her tea down. “Perfect as always.”
“Of course, dear. Now—where is your husband?”
“Should be at Trafalgar Square,” said Millicent. “He was finalising some last minute press passes.”
“Are you quite sure you really want to do this?” Petunia asked, her eyes flicking among the three of them. “You don’t have to.”
“I’m sure,” said Draco. Millicent nodded.
Harry smiled, and it wasn’t even forced. “Yeah, I’m sure. I want to do it.”
Petunia frowned at him for a long moment, then shook her head, smiled. “All right. Finish your tea and I’ll pop you all over.”
Harry sipped his sugared tea. Beneath the table, Draco’s fingers brushed his wrist and he looked over, found Draco smiling back at him.
“It’s better than we thought it would be,” he murmured.
Harry smiled a genuine smile just for him. “With you,” he said.
Draco’s lip quirked on one side. “Of course.”
“Ready?” said Petunia, returning to the kitchen with her handbag looped over her arm, a demure fascinator pinned to her hair. “Milly, dear, shall I take you first?”
Petunia popped out of the kitchen with Millicent, and Harry shook his head. The sting was gone, but the shock of seeing his aunt Apparate never left. Harry took the opportunity to press a kiss to the side of Draco’s mouth.
“I’d do it all again to be here with you,” Harry said.
Draco smirked. “I love you, too.”
Petunia popped back in. “Harry, you next.”
Harry stood up, drained the dregs of his tea, and took his aunt’s arm. Her Apparitions were not the most talented, but they were very precise. What she lacked in magical strength, she made up for in sheer bloodymindedness. She delivered him safely behind the press dais erected in Trafalgar Square, and returned once more for Draco and then the kids.
Ron popped in with Hermione and the kids, and Harry went to meet them.
“Harry!” said Hermione, smiling brightly. “Can you believe it’s really happening?”
“Yeah, barely,” Harry said with a laugh.
She was always so bloody cheerful, as if losing her magic had taken with it all her stress and worry. But then again, she’d been able to quit the Ministry fully without regret, work on her children’s novels full time. Harry was grateful he could still co-teach with Dudley, though Dudley now took the lead on the magical side.
Finally, Petunia had everyone in and took a seat in the reserved section with Albus, Scorpius, and Dudley and Millicent’s Sigourney, fanning her face with an agenda. It had been quite a magical workout for her.
Music began to play and the Prime Minister ascended the stage to wild applause. She smiled and waved, pandering professionally to the crowd.
“Welcome!” said the Prime Minister, and then launched into a politically oriented set of jokes and welcomes designed to get the crowd laughing and happy. It worked.
Harry leant his head against Draco’s shoulder, watching from their hidden spot behind the curtains at the end of the stage. Draco wrapped one arm around Harry’s waist. The wind changed and for a split second, Harry smelled eucalyptus, but then it was gone again. Someone’s aftershave, no doubt.
“There’s something I wanted to tell you,” Hermione said quietly, as they watched the Prime Minister continue to warm up the crowd.
“Hm?” said Harry, turning his head as little as possible to see her, so he wouldn’t have to take it off Draco’s shoulder.
Hermione bit her lip, grinning around the gesture. She opened her handbag and stuck her hand in. It disappeared up to her shoulder.
Harry frowned. “That’s a new bag. Did Ron do that for you?”
“Nope,” said Hermione. “I was just really frustrated that I couldn’t fit everything I needed in here, and when I opened it again, it was bigger.”
Harry straightened, his heart hammering. “You have magic again?”
“Not much,” Hermione said. “A bit. After this happened, Ron leant me his wand and I tried to Accio something. It came to me, but it was really slow. And I couldn’t manage a Nox or a Lumos…or really, anything much at all…with a wand anyway. My theory is we’ve still got magic, but not our magic. Not modern magic. The spell took our magic and gave it to all the Muggles in the web, and as a thanks for protecting it from the aliens, it gave us some of itself in return. Wild magic.”
“Wandless magic,” said Draco. “Like how they worked magic before wands?”
Hermione nodded. “We may never do normal spells again, but there is something in us. We just need to let it come to the surface, learn how to access it.”
Draco stared off into the crowd, gaping and blinking. Harry withheld a ridiculous laugh; he’d never seen Draco so stunned before.
“But there are tribes that still work magic this way,” Draco continued. “Ancient tribes that only master a few dozen spells over their whole lives. They use magic differently. We could visit them, learn how they do it.”
It was like a revelation to Draco. He shook his head in wonder.
Harry, for his part, was on the verge of tears. “We have magic?” he said again, just to hear the words.
Hermione nodded, then jumped to him, wrapping him in a hug so fierce it winded him. He didn’t even care. She’d given him the best news he’d had since Millicent delivered Sigourney.
“And now our honoured guests!” said the Prime Minister. “Queen Sostrate of Atlantis, Severus Snape, Millicent Bulstrode, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter!”
That was their cue. They stepped out onto the stage. Across from them, the Queen entered with Snape and Millicent just behind. They met in the middle like they were coming onto a late-night chat show, waved to the roaring crowd, took their seats, with the Queen in pride of place at the centre.
“Four years ago on this day,” said the Prime Minister, “our species was saved from destruction. Though many lives were lost, and the rebuilding is ongoing, we are here today, alive and free, thanks to the great sacrifices of six people.
“Queen Sostrate offered her very life to protect us all, Severus Snape gave up the peace of an afterlife, and these four brave witches and wizards—and yes I say that on purpose, for despite their losses, they are still witches and wizards—gave their magic so we could live. In an ironic turn of fate, the magic taken from them was given to many of you.
“To many of us,” said the Prime Minister, retrieving a wand from her pantsuit and giving a little shower of sparks, to the audience’s great delight. Everyone cheered, and the guests on the stage gave appropriately happy claps, though Snape was still as ornery as he’d been in his first life. Living in Atlantis had changed little beyond his skin tone.
Queen Sostrate had begun to age, and they knew magic had given her another gift that day: the ability to die as a normal human did. Severus was much as he’d been the day he died, though he’d aged accordingly. But he was alive, and that was incredible magic all on its own.
“And now, four years to the day from that great sacrifice, I am proud to announce the launch of a brand new organisation dedicated to the education of all our citizens, both magical and non-magical, and advancing our human culture as one, amazing family.
“The Magical-NonMagical Coalition for an Advantageous Teamwork—MCAST—will help us to continue to understand how to live together, though we have lived separately for so long, and help us prepare future generations for our final fight against the Creators.
“As our favourite BBC morning host, Pet Dursley, tells us: we already know the shibboleth, but we have to work together to see one another as our own people. MCAST will facilitate that. Now, I’d like to invite to the stage Dudley Dursley, abduction survivor, Professor of Non-Magical Immersion at the magical school Hogwarts, and co-leader of MCAST’s education efforts, with our own Harry Potter.”
Dudley joined them on stage for a Q&A session. Questions flew. Harry answered without thought, his mind whirling with Hermione’s revelation. He took Draco’s hand, and Draco gave him a smile from the corner of his eye. The scent of eucalyptus washed over Harry, and this time, he knew, it was not a memory.
~The End~