Epilogue

The end of fifth year was cheerful, but anti-climatic. Imogen was sure she had performed well on her final exams, not at the level of her friend Hermione, to be sure, but she was confident that she'd obtained O.W.L.s in all her chosen subjects. At the end of term feast, Gryffindor easily won the house cup, Dumbledore awarding one hundred points for each Death Eater that a student had killed in the final battle at the Ministry. The thousand points Gryffindor gained thereby made its victory the most lopsided anyone could recall. The students were all sent to their homes, and to a summer without responsibilities, or at least with none of the scholastic variety.

As Harry predicted, he received an invitation from Sirius to stay at 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry's acceptance delivered by Hedwig as fast as her wings could carry her. He looked forward to a summer with his god-father, who, in time, became more of a step-father to Harry than his uncle ever aspired to.

Arthur Weasley, much to his surprise, found himself appointed to the position of Acting Deputy Minister by the new Minister of Magic, Chaim Goldstein.

"You're too junior to become the real Deputy Minister, and if I appoint anyone more senior, that would imply that he or she was in line for the actual position some day, so you're the ideal candidate, Arthur," the Minister explained. "So don't let it go to your head. In a few months when the Deputy Minister's recovered, he'll be back and you'll return to your former position. But you have your chance to make your mark: how to deal with Voldemort's followers? That's the task I now set for you. What do we do with them? Try them? Execute them? Banish them? Let me have your recommendation, and within a week."

Arthur's solution was to choose none of the Minister's options. The few remaining Death Eaters, and Voldemort's lesser minions, would not face death, imprisonment nor even banishment. Instead, each would receive a full pardon after at the most a few years of enforced wandlessness, provided that the wrongdoer appeared before the newly-formed and Muggle-inspired Truth and Reconciliation Commission, contrite and willing to make full confession of all his misdeeds at the Commission's public sittings. A full pardon was available to all who were on the run, under investigation and to those who were under no suspicion at all, but who feared the law's retribution. Only those who were already in custody for their crimes were denied the opportunity to receive a pardon, but such persons too were encouraged to attend, and speak under oath about what they'd done, on the understanding that their co-operation would be taken into account when it was time for sentence to be imposed.

The news of Arthur Weasley' appointment as acting Deputy Minister had instantly given birth to a host of enemies, and these eagerly awaited the failure of the new Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so unpopular when its creation was announced. But then the first Death Eater had come forward to testify: Maude Boudicca, thought dead and thus unsought by the Aurors, had appeared in person at the Ministry of Magic, submitting her wand to the guards and herself to judgment. When, to her amazement, Maude survived the fiendfyre curse at Castle Stalker, she resigned herself to living the rest of her life in hiding. The news that she might - indeed, would - be forgiven, provided that she would tell all under oath, caused her to appear at the Ministry entrance within minutes of picking up a week-old copy of the Daily Prophet wherein she learned of the Commission's formation.

Her testimony before the Commission took days, and Maude's story filled the newspapers. When, at the end of her testimony, Maude was released on the sole condition that she not hold a wand for five years, the news was met with howls of indignation from her numerous victims and the public at large. But Maude's appearance broke the resistance of Voldemort's remaining followers, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was inundated with the requests and even demands of those eager to tell their story. As Arthur had foreseen, the rump of Voldemort's power was more effectively destroyed by leniency then by the harshest punishments the law could devise.

Voldemort, confined in a revamped Azkaban that made Nurmengard look like a hotel, declined to appear before the Commission; indeed, he did not even acknowledge its existence. But the appearance of Bellatrix Lestrange caused a sensation. Having been taken by the authorities in advance of the Commission's creation, she was not eligible for a pardon. But Bellatrix came not to confess, but to boast. Legless, she was carried to and from the witness box each day, and there she sought not to mollify her accusers, but to pour acid in the wounds of all her victims by reciting in lurid detail all that she had done in the service of the Dark Lord (as she alone still called him). Her testimony took more days than Maude Boudicca's, and would have gone on even longer. But Bellatrix had always been rather deranged, and after days and days of spewing vitriol, the woman had become unhinged, and had to be carried away. Her sentencing was put off until the Healers pronounced her fit to be released from St. Mungo's.