Imagination - HP

Reina and the other dragons had been let into the Dragon Arena a few weeks after the day Harry had shown Hermione the place. Yangon, the male of the two divine Chinese Dragons that had joined the Mage Isles, had been part of the demonstration as he'd requested. He'd been there to assure the other dragons that the arena was safe, and to show them the brutality the golems would be capable of. Suffice it to say, there'd nearly been a stampede to have some fun, too, but Reina had descended to the middle of the Arena and roared her displeasure. All the dragons had stopped and waited for their turn, as indicated by the Chinese Dragons, the most revered ancient ones.

Before she'd adopted her ugly human son, Reina had been a respected dragon for her ferocity, but since then she'd become something more. Her adopted son was the authority of the island. He was the alpha of many packs and could be the end of any of them. He also gave them all the possibilities that the Mage Isles could offer, and their instincts knew better than to cross him, so crossing her was not even thinkable. Should they be able to defeat her, they'd only be ending their own time on the Dragon Isle… one way or another.

Yinara, the female of the Divine Dragons, had been delighted to demonstrate the flight targets, after that. She'd called them hunting targets, because that would be the way the dragons would see it. The golems were challenges for strength, while the flight targets were for hunting practice, and agility.

It was no surprise to Harry when Cragril, Reina's mate and the current most respected male dragon from the Romanian preserve, had taken down his target too quickly and he seemed dissatisfied. Fortunately for him he had been allowed to go again, so that the other dragons could see that the challenge could change and adapt. Cragril had enjoyed the second bout much better and he'd roared in satisfaction after the second fight.

At this point, all of the dragons had their dragonkin forms, which the Chinese Dragons had assisted with, and some had even preferred to fight in those forms, activating their enhanced battle forms, which were also a standard for all dragonkin. This had Cragril wanting to go again, because he'd fought in his full dragon form, but he'd ended up being denied because there were many other dragons awaiting their turns. It had been a few hours before the dragons had had enough fun.

The only dragon handler with them at that moment, had been Charlie. He'd been invited by Harry, but the other handlers had been told that there was a surprise for the dragons, and that they were not invited. There was a specific reason for that, too. After the final fights of the day, Harry had gone onto the Arena Floor, with Charlie following.

The dragons were all lazing about the Arena, on comfortable benches that would expand or shrink to accommodate either dragon forms, or dragonkin forms. Many of the dragons had taken to lazing about in their dragonkin forms, with their packmates in close contact. It was apparently very comfortable to them, and there was a bit of a culture-gap in how the dragons would fondly caress each-other in ways that would shock most conservative people.

When Charlie had reached the middle, both the Chinese Dragons had joined them again. Harry had then spoken about the arena first, telling the dragons that it belonged to them, and would be available once a day, for a specific amount of time, so that they could have their fun, while the Chinese Dragons helped communicate what Harry was saying.

Then, he'd posed a question to the Dragons. The answer to the question had been loud and approving, and Charlie Weasley had become the first Dragon Magimagus in wizarding history. Magimagus was a term Hermione had come up with. Normal Animagi could only become mundane creatures or normal animals, while this new methodology allowed for a person to become a magical creature.

Harry could obviously already become anything, including a dragon, but he'd not done so yet, because he wanted Charlie to have that honour. He really had deserved it, for his diligence and hard work in accommodating all the dragons that regularly visited the Dragon Isle.

Speaking of which, the other dragon preserves around the world had sent their own representatives to inspect and man the Dragon Isle, which was standard protocol, and they had a form of forbiddance, too. It was deemed necessary, after one idiot from Sweden had tried to sneak off to the other isles, and one of the dragons from his own preserve had hunted him down and bitten off both his legs in displeasure.

He'd since been banned from the island and fired from his job, because the Dragon Isle was actually saving the dragon preserves a bunch of money. Dragonkin ate much less than the average dragon, and nobody would complain about how much happier and well-adjusted the dragons were, these days. Not to mention that as dragon-kin, they were less of a threat to the secret of magic. The man's legs had been fixed, but would forever bear the scars, for his breaking his word and the trust of the Mage Isles.

Charlie had since spent any time he could in dragon form. Harry had made him a new kind of dragon, incorporating features from his human form, just as he did for the dragons and their dragonkin forms. Charlie had become a red dragon, inspired by pictures from Dungeons and Dragons, with brown markings, dark red hair, which wasn't normal for dragons to have, and black horns. His eyes were his own, but slitted, and he had draconic fire-breath that would use his own magic to function, just like a dragons'… well, once he figured that out, anyway.

Yinara and Yangon had been there often, to help him adjust to his body and the functionality of said body. They'd understood the issue with learning the functionality from creatures that weren't really of human intelligence, directly from them, and they were very hopeful of helping Charlie, and one day maybe more people, by the information Harry would gain from the young dragon-enthusiast. They had no doubt that Harry would eventually join them once Charlie had practiced enough to be comfortable using his dragon body, and Harry could copy that.

III-III

It had been a few years and Harry and his friends and family had settled into their duties on the Mage Isles, after finishing their time at Hogwarts.

Hermione was still technically living with her parents, but she basically only slept at home, before leaving for the Mage Isles. She couldn't discuss too much about what she did for a living with her parents, but they knew some things at least. They knew she was a sort of researcher and administrator for a reasonably newly established magical country. They knew the purpose of the country was to help magical creatures around the world. They also knew she worked with her boyfriend. A boyfriend that they'd met only a handful of times, due to how busy he tended to be.

Hermione was basically in charge of helping Harry with his many duties, so that he could spend at least some time on his own research, not that she always knew what that was. Her official title was Deputy Regent. Harry had become the official Regent of the Mage Isles, the moment it had been acknowledged as a country by the ICW. Regent, as in Harry was in charge until he and the Lord Mage disagreed.

There were many reasons for why they needed to be acknowledged, but the long and short of it was that most of the ICW members were afraid of the Lord Mage. He'd not only stepped on many toes during the last few years, but he'd also been unstoppable, and usually in such a way that nobody that would, could complain without admitting to their own misdeeds. They didn't want him focussing on them, when they denied him anything.

Harry, on the other hand, was a reasonably well-spoken young man, who seldom rubbed anyone the wrong way. From outside perspectives, it looked like he was usually just cleaning up after Lord Mage. He tended to show up to ICW meetings looking like he was overworked and exasperated by what the Lord Mage had done most recently. Nothing they told him ever shocked him, and he usually had an update about what he'd done to soothe whoever was pissed off most recently.

Well, either that, or he'd point out whatever injustice had been happening, without naming anyone, and what they'd done to correct the problem. In this way, he showed his skills, his intelligence and that he was trying to help more than anything else. Despite so many begrudging acceptances of his rationale, most of the ICW members preferred speaking to the young man, rather than his no-nonsense master, who would bulldoze over any argument, making it quite an unproductive session, usually. Again, nobody wanted to piss him off.

Some of the ICW actually liked the young man, while others were even jealous of the opportunity he had to learn from the Ancient Mage.

Dumbledore had obviously been involved with getting acknowledgement for the Mage Isles through the books. He'd also been involved with bringing a few representatives to the Isles for a tour of the place. Unfortunately for the representatives, they'd had to register at the Forbiddance, so they would be unable to say much about the Unity Isle or the Lord Mage's Fortress, the only islands they had been allowed to visit, when they went back. Some of them were trying to arrange embassies for their nations, but nothing had come of that, yet.

Madam Pomphrey had resigned her post at Hogwarts, so that she could join the Mage Isles as well. She was the most respected healer in the world, at the time, due to her constant efforts to induct more healers into the Medical Practice Authority of the Mage Isles. The MPA was established to be the controlling authority of the one medical interface that was shared throughout the Wizarding World. It was the one device for all the new techniques and magical medical procedures that were being researched and made available to any Wizarding hospital that was registered with the MPA.

This was a big step for the magical medical world. Not only could the healers now target diseases more directly and with an almost 100% success rate, but when a procedure was magic-intensive, many healers could pool their magic together to offer support to healers with less magical power. This was achieved through a connection to a communication function, which would notify many healers around the world mentally.

Those with the power to spare could mentally accept the request and offer their magic by simply raising their wands and confirming that they would participate. Due to the number of healers on the system, it didn't even usually use much power, because a magic-intensive procedure could potentially have hundreds of casters to alleviate the burden.

There were obviously many steps involved that the healers didn't know about, to protect themselves and their patients. Everything from security to magical costs and availability were all part of that system. It had taken quite a bit of work for Poppy to get everything that could go wrong programmed into the system, but it was now a fully functional system.

Neville had finally escaped his grandmother, for all of a month, before she demanded to move to the Mage Isles, so that she could be close to Neville. Much as she wouldn't say it directly, she did love her grandson. He'd not been interested in the many witches that had pursued him since he started learning from Moody, even though some of them were very attractive, or represented attractive connections for House Longbottom. She'd tried to make him see her perspective, but he was not a boy anymore, and he had a fire in him that she liked to see in him. A confidence and drive that meant he was meant for better things. She did hope that he found a nice girl at some point though.

Neville had had his parents transferred to the Mage Isles, where Poppy and Harry had taken some time to look into their situation. Unfortunately they were not in any shape to be helped. Their minds were not just broken. They were gone. The little bit of interaction Neville remembered from his mother had slowed down and stopped over the last couple of years, too.

Harry had used something he hadn't shared with anyone, and had taken Neville aside to inform him that their souls were not in their bodies anymore. It was a very emotional time for Neville for a few months, after that. He'd told his grandmother, but she'd not been able to let them go, so their bodies were still in the hospital, being cared for, but Neville had had to let go of them.

As for Neville's work… He was an Unspeakable. The Mage Isles' first wizard unspeakable. Moody was technically still his boss, and would give Neville his marching orders, but Neville had many things in his interface that even Moody didn't know about, these days. Neville was also kind of in charge of the Mage Isles' Department of Mysteries, otherwise known as the Mage Isles Counterintelligence Agency, M.I.C.A.

Moody may have set the operation up, but he was of the opinion that spy craft was a younger man's game, and he couldn't be in charge of security of the Mage Isles and run MICA. It was a conflict of interest, too. He was meant to focus on local threats, while MICA was meant to protect from external ones.

So far, Neville hadn't needed to do much more than protect the Mage Isles' interests, which was what the Unspeakables were meant to do. Still, after the revelations of his parents' situation, he'd thrown himself into the work.

Some creatures had been affected by magics that people had used to make them want to return to where they came from, but Neville had been more than capable of following the pull of the magic and finding an ongoing ritual. He'd reported his findings, and Gryff, the Sorting Hat, had made an appearance as Lord Mage. He'd not said a thing, but to glare at the people. When they'd noticed him, all of them had screamed, one person had lost bladder control and two witches had actually fainted, which interrupted the ongoing ritual and stopped the magic. They'd never tried again.

On a few other occasions, people had tried to infiltrate the Mage Isles, by following people who were suspected of commuting to the Mage Isles, daily. Those infiltrations had ended up giving Moody a few occupants to the Mage Isles Police Department's, or MIPD's, cells. This was obviously due to Moody's efforts in securing all forms of transport and extensive wards at all transport stations.

It had taken a bit of work from there, but they'd soon… encouraged the prisoners to change occupation, shortly after they betrayed their employers. They didn't have much of a choice. It was either that, or losing all knowledge of magic and their ability to use magic as well. They could freely choose, but Moody wasn't kind about it. He needed to be firm in his dealings to protect the Mage Isles, after all.

Some had even joined Neville's department, seeing as how they used to be unspeakables for the opposition. No further unspeakable infiltration had been attempted since and Neville took some vindictive joy at sending the Goblin Automatons into those departments, to steal their own secrets. He couldn't protect from unknown threats, after all. Better to gather that information, before it became necessary.

The goblins had not had one complaint either and had grown to like their new boss. He did sometimes need a bit of prodding, to get over his normally soft-hearted nature, but once Neville had decided on an action, he would not be deterred. The goblins loved seeing him with steely eyes, as he decided on an action, and simply did it. Unspeakables worked autonomously, after all.

Bathsheda Babbling, or Beth, had remained at Hogwarts. She'd been able to automate a lot of things, including marking her students' work. She'd obviously improved the syllabus some, by using hidden interface boards. The students would only ever see rune-tables with heavy inscriptions that would never make sense to them. The fact of the matter was that the students could only use the boards in design-phase.

This allowed them to plan their runes and then go to application, only when something looked like it would work, without needing to spend hours on writing up a whole document, which they might need to redo. There was still an accepted way to do things in the field and for the tests, so they still needed to know how to do it properly, but when they had that down, they could move on to application. As a result, her subject became more popular. Application and practical work were more fun than theory, after all. Especially to the younger students.

Beth had a few ideas which might make the system more useful, without risking her grant, but she was still contemplating ideas about that. Unfortunately, one couldn't give people access to rune-carving programs, like one could with medical procedures. Besides the fact that it was beyond next generation, rune-masters and people that use runes didn't all have binding oaths like the healers.

Gryff the sorting hat had taken to spending his days with one Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle, most recently. The alchemist and his wife were older than six hundred years, and it was nice to act like old people, sometimes. Then, on other days, Gryff and Nick would slip away for a few drinks at the local pub, but just a few, before Perenelle would show up and join them. They hardly got the chance to act as young as they were capable of looking, and Perenelle was just a bit too fun when she drank, in Nicholas's opinion.

Add in the fact that the Chinese Divine Dragons were reasonably constant visitors now, and the conversation could go in almost any direction, so it was usually quite interesting around them.

As for Harry, he'd been working on some interesting magics of late. He'd identified some new elements of magic. Things never before heard of or attempted. Having figured out how to manipulate time, space and gravity, after working on discovering their principles, limitations and capabilities for a long time, he was now working on combinations of those powers, which was something he tended to do with spells as well, considering what he'd learned of seemingly random effects from miscast spells.

He'd had a few other very successful breakthroughs for new applications of magic, in that time. Hermione had even helped him with one of them, which was a secret only he and she knew about. Having taken into consideration the damage that new discoveries could cause, and the threat of certain forms of magic, they had created a new interface, which worked much like the forbiddance, connected to a taboo, and the capability to claim magics.

Basically, anyone that heard about the Mage Isles and talked about it, was recorded, and connected to a special monitoring system. Obviously, neither Hermione nor Harry would be invading people's privacy, but their magics were monitored for the sole purpose of protecting the world from some of the more destructive magics that could be claimed, if anyone had original ideas that led to things like nuclear applications or messing with time. After setting that up, they didn't even need to monitor it, because it would automatically contact them when someone was doing something that threatened the world.

One of the greatest benefits, and the original purpose of the monitoring system, was so that Harry could protect his claims, without needing to inform every person of his discoveries. This meant that Harry could potentially claim any magic that he discovers, and protect it from people rediscovering said magic, because the claim connected through the monitoring system to anyone that was connected to the monitoring system.

It was basically a magical contract that worked like the goblet of fire, being capable of applying a contract, without a person knowing, or agreeing to it. At least, the ones that were a threat. He didn't want people to stagnate, or to be limited just because he decided it after all. He was just aware of some of the true dangers, due to his research.

He'd even left it up to magic itself to decide if the person was trustworthy enough to not do bad things, having made an oath with the interface and the magic it contained. Hermione had not expected that to work, and had looked on in shock, as the interface and Harry both shone, as the magical oath made to magic itself, took effect.

Hermione had actually come up with the idea of monitoring people this way, because Harry had discussed with her the problem with claiming magic to protect it. Normally, you'd need to tell people about your claim, so that they couldn't re-invent your discovery. It also drew a target on your back, because if someone killed the owner of a claim, said claim could potentially be reclaimed by someone else. Even the person that killed you. Hermione would not stand for that, and she'd seen how powerful Harry was becoming. He already had many enemies, even if very few people knew that it was actually Harry's claim.

Still, that new application of magic meant that Harry would never need to make a bigger target of himself, and with the 'Lord Mage' still around, people were trying to stay on Harry's good side, since he was the softer side of the Mage Isles image. Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, apprentice to Lord Mage, and Lord Regent of the Mage Isles, seldom used his master's tactics of bulldozing over other people to get his way.

III-III

It was during their final year in Hogwarts that Hedwig had done something unexpected and dangerous. The first signs that Harry had that something was up, was when his familiar started sleeping more and being less active. He'd tried to ask her about it, and all she ever said was that it was 'Secret'.

Harry wanted to scan her, to see if she was ill, or if something else was wrong, but she'd simply refused the scan to touch her, not allowing Harry to detect anything from her. This had frustrated Harry and had Hedwig admonish him for trying to do something to her without permission.

This had carried on for two months, and Harry had been worried all that time, until, one day, she'd caught fire spontaneously and burned to ashes in a very short amount of time. Harry had been there, and had been unable to do a thing, as his magic once again refused to touch the burning owl.

The shock came when a new-born phoenix was found in her ashes, which was apparently still Harry's familiar.

"Hedwig?" Harry asked, his tear-streaked face showing shock, as the little white phoenix looked up at him weakly.

"I told chick." was Hedwig's only response, in her normal voice, but this time with the same reverse reverberation as Fawkes' voice. "Secret."

"You turned yourself into a phoenix?" Harry asked. "How?!" he demanded.

"Secret." was all Hedwig said. She'd actually been planning it for years. Ever since she'd stolen a few of Fawkes' feathers. When Fawkes had taken the role of Lord Mage's phoenix, she'd not been happy, so her plans had solidified then. She would always be with Harry, and she wanted to be there in this capacity as well. As a phoenix, she would also be able to be useful to him in more ways.

Fawkes had flamed into the room, shortly after Hedwig's rebirth, and the exasperated sigh still held humour and a bit of wonder, at Hedwig's antics. He'd since become a constant visitor, so that he could help Hedwig adjust to a new, immortal life.

III-III

Back in the present…

Tom Riddle had been stuck for many years. That damnable brat had somehow been able to trap him in a box. Obviously, there had been more involved. He remembered Dumbledore being there, along with the healer and the boy, but he thought he recognized the fourth person. He remembered hearing about a runes prodigy back before his body was destroyed, and he was almost certain that the woman he'd seen had been Bathsheda Babbling. Quirrell had also known about the woman, but he hadn't been the most attentive to her craft. He'd put her on his list, when he finally found a way out.

He still didn't know if one of his followers had tried to resurrect him in the time that had passed, but with him stuck in the box, he was of the opinion that it would stop the ritual from working. If one of his Horcruxes were successful in being raised, however, he had no doubt that it would eventually find him and free him, and then he'd walk the world again, and punish those who'd trapped him.

He'd been screaming his impotent fury into the box for the last few years, for all the good it did him. Fortunately, he could tire himself out and fall into a lull. It wasn't really sleep, but it was close enough that he tended to work himself up, so that he could find some form of rest in these states.

He'd been in one of these lulls, with no idea how much time had passed, when something finally happened.

He didn't know how, or why, or what had happened, but he could feel himself moving. And then, an excruciating pain, as he fused with a horcrux, which would always be something he'd have to experience, if a horcrux was used to resurrect him. He screamed in pain, not that he could even tell if anyone could hear him, or if he was doing it from a body, or just in his head. And then, more pain. Over and over, he screamed as not just one, but all his soul parts were fused back into the main one.

And then, there was light. The blessed light of day shone down on him, and he closed his eyes as he felt the slightest heat land on him, before he even opened his eyes. When he did open his eyes, he was shocked at who he saw.

"What's up Tom?" Harry Potter asked him, with a smirk on his lips.

"Potter!" he exclaimed, as he shot upright. "I will…" he trailed off, as he became aware of his situation.

Around him were arrayed a large group of people. Aurors and journalists and people he recognized. Why would the boy be involved with his resurrection? Why would he bring him back publicly? Why… Why was he standing in a sphere of clear glass?

"Let me explain the situation, before you start making a fuss." Harry said. "I decided to give you a chance that you don't deserve. We found all of you. All of you, and we put you back together. That means that you are once again a mortal man. Well, kind of."

"What are you-!" he started.

"I'm not finished." Harry said, as his face darkened and the superior smirk vanished, revealing a dangerous stare. "What you are in, is a homunculus, of sorts. Around said homunculus, is a barrier of my own design. Said barrier, is located in the centre of Diagon Alley, where you will reside for the next year. One year is all you will get. In that time, you can attempt to escape. You can rely on your followers and attempt to free yourself.

"If, by the end of the year, you are unsuccessful in escaping, this barrier will collapse, and it will crush you, and send your soul on to its judgement, whatever that might be." the young man continued. "I considered so many options to deal with you, but in the end I wanted to make an example of you. I want the world to know what happens when a Dark Lord faces me and my people."

"I don't care how powerful you've become, boy." Voldemort stated, darkly. "I will escape this prison, and I will destroy you, and anyone you hold dear."

Harry smirked at that. "Oh, I should probably mention that you cannot communicate with anyone but myself and my people." he said.

Then, shocking the man, the boy turned his back on him and addressed the crowd of people. "There you go. Proof that Voldemort never died, and that we captured him. You will note that he doesn't seem to be moving or talking. That is a protection that we placed, so that he cannot try and gain assistance, or draw people in with empty promises or threats. Standard scans should still reveal his identity and that he is alive.

"I welcome anyone that thinks that they can defeat my protections, to try and free him. I will not get personally involved beyond this point unless I am requested to do so by a majority vote of the member nations of the ICW." Harry finished.

"Why do this?" one of the reporters asked. "Lord Potter." they remembered to add.

"Because I'm tired of people trying to badmouth the Mage Isles." Harry said. "This is a demonstration of what the Mage Isles can do. Protection from the darkness that lies inside all of us. This is where that dark road leads. This man planned on subjugating the Wizarding World, just as the Wizarding World subjugated the magical creatures of this world.

"Too long have the unjust ruled over the benign and wondrous. Too long has darkness been allowed to flourish. This is my answer to your demands that the status quo be maintained. This is my way of calling you out."

Harry glared at the reporters, and some of them took an involuntary step back.

"I am no longer a wizard of the Wizarding World." Harry said. "I am now a mage of the magical world, who claims the responsibility to protect those who are disenfranchised. I claim no affiliation with what you wizards and witches have allowed to happen to the wonders that magic allowed you access to."

There was a bright flash of light as the Lord Mage simply appeared, standing by Harry's side.

There were gasps of shock and quite a bit of fear, as the dark man stood there, looking at the young man.

"Hear me, Magic, and head my call." Lord Mage said. "I, who have served you for longer than mortal memory, have witnessed the birth of a new acolyte of truth. A defender of righteousness. I hereby retract my claim of control and limitation on this young acolyte of magic. This young mage of ingenuity and resolve has become your new heir and apprentice. My successor. My equal. My replacement."

There were gasps as people reacted in shock, when the form of Harry Potter suddenly exploded in a bright light, as magic seemed to start pouring into him from all around and started cascading off of him in waves of power that all present could feel. Tom was seeing this, and still couldn't believe it. He could feel the pressure of the boy's influence, even inside his cell. Harry, himself, looked shocked.

Lord Mage, still standing there, said his final words, so that the crowd may hear. "My purpose is fulfilled, and I hereby return to my rest. Mage Harry Potter, apprentice of Magic, has no further need of me." He paused, dramatically, before turning to the crowd. "All… Hail… the King." he finished, in almost a sigh, his voice still carrying to the crowd before he vanished completely from sight.

Harry stood there, as the glow slowly faded from him, leaving his magical aura heavy in the air.

"What… What just happened?" someone from the crowd asked. Harry was almost certain it was an Auror.

"I seem to be the recipient of a grant, from Magic." Harry said, still seemingly in shock. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go look into this, so that I don't accidentally kill someone by lifting a finger." he finished before he simply vanished. It was noted that he disappeared the same way Lord Mage tended to.

III-III

"So, that was all just a show?" Poppy asked, when they'd gathered to discuss the happenings at Diagon Alley.

"We needed to faze Lord Mage out of the narrative." Harry said. "The story going forward will be that I could summon him, if there was ever a need. In the meanwhile, he's gone back to 'sleep'. This keeps his image as one that protects the Magical World from the Wizarding World in place, while adding the idea in people's mind that he's not here to bulldoze over people anymore. My disavowing the Wizarding World in favour of the Magical World, and my declaration of being a mage, rather than a wizard, will now be my drive to continue the work, but without the threat of Lord Mage forcing people's hands. If he remained a threat, it wouldn't really be anyone's choice. That's how dark lords work. We couldn't keep on doing that."

"And you think that the pressure from the press and the ICW will become less now?" Hermione asked.

"I don't really care about them anymore." Harry said, shrugging. "Like I said; I'm a mage, not a wizard. The Wizarding World has the chance to either accept that, or come to face the truth of what I can do, now that I have responsibilities to live up to."

"It's a step we always intended to take." Moody said. Obviously he'd discussed this with Harry at length. Harry had actually brought it up. He didn't like walking over people, and making choices for them. Those were the methods of the dark. They took the opportunity to establish a new level of power in the minds of the ICW, and then attributed that same power to Harry, who they actually respected and mostly liked. They could use different tactics now, but still use force, when absolutely necessary. "We needed to stop the charade and putting on shows. We needed to remove a point of failure in our operations. We can't use Lord Mage as our crutch, forever."

"This way, he's still on everyone's mind, and can be a buffer for future negotiations, but I needed to start being more honest in my dealings." Harry said. "Rather than making decisions and rolling over people, I can now present my findings, tell people the truth, and then give the ICW the chance to discuss doing things that I find out are necessary, before I need to use those methods again.

"Up to now, the people of the Wizarding World were hearing of Lord Mage's power and how he did what he wanted, damn the consequences." he continued. "I always played the arbitrator, after the fact. Trying to mend fences and presenting evidence afterwards. I want people to start looking at the Mage Isles as the boon it was meant to be, rather than a threat that could just take what we want and do what we want, from our hidden location, whenever we want."

"Instead of a threat to Wizarding society, we've been helping protect the secret of magic, and securing potions ingredients and endangered species, so that they are no longer a threat. All the while, we've been making things more accessible, safe and convenient." Hermione said, as she nodded. It was true too. After the dragons started sharing parts of their bodies, and started receiving gold and other forms of recompense, other creatures started doing the same.

Rare ingredients were no longer rare and as a result better potions and cures to diseases have already come from that development. Never mind how relaxed and easy-going the dragonkin tended to act these days, and the fact that many dark and untrusted creatures had made the move. All they'd done was secure another vulnerability of the Wizarding World.

"What's this all got to do with Voldemort?" Neville asked. He'd been standing in a corner, waiting for a moment to ask. Harry had not consulted him on this plan, and he very much didn't like it.

"Nothing." Harry said.

"If you don't mind staying on that subject, would you care to explain why you're giving Voldemort a chance to escape?" Neville asked.

"Oh, that's a trick." Harry said, realising what Neville was asking. "He's not actually there. He's in a remote location, under goblin guard, and behind many wards. He thinks he's there, though. Anyone that tries to free him will join him in a cell."

"It's a trap." Neville said, as he sighed out. Then he smirked. "Good one." he said. "I'll need that location, to set up my own defences."

"Sorry, Longbottom." Moody said. "His location is not something we'll be sharing. With you going out into the world for the department, you'd technically be at risk if we told you."

"You're in on this?" Neville asked, frowning. He'd have wanted to be consulted on at least the plan. This would draw the wrong kinds of attention from outside the Mage Isles. That was his department, and he felt he should have known.

"Need to know information, lad." Moody said. "Harry and I discussed it at length, with Poppy and Gryff."

"Why not just kill him?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed, when Moody looked at him to explain. "There was a chance that his primary soul-fragment would have stayed behind if we just destroyed the horcruxes. It's not certain, but with his soul having been stuck in our world for so long, it might have been able to cling to existence, here, and then we'd never be rid of him. We need him to die a natural death, so we combined his soul together again, and put him in a homunculus."

Harry had actually discovered some interesting and disturbing information. Namely: a soul could heal. Over time, the primary soul-fragment had started becoming larger. It would have taken many years longer for the fragment to completely regrow, like a hundred years, but still. While ghosts weren't earth-bound spirits but rather impressions left behind, souls have been known to linger, or transform into things like poltergeists. He didn't want to imagine what a poltergeist of Voldemort would become.

"How, though?" Neville asked.

"Soul magic." Harry said, shrugging.

"Magic that you should have told us you had studied, young man." Poppy said, sternly.

"I didn't practice it!" Harry objected. "Academic knowledge of something doesn't affect you past the ability to identify and stop other people from practicing it."

"But… you did practice it, to combine his soul." Neville pointed out.

"He used a runic creation to achieve it." Beth said. "I helped him make it. No rituals or dark magics. Just a function built into a different form of phylactery, which was used once upon a time to create monstrosities."

Neville seemed to be satisfied with that and nodded.

"And the homunculus?" Hermione asked. She'd known some of the plan, but not all of it. He still liked surprising her. As for the reasoning… she could understand it. People wouldn't mess with a person who could bring forth the 'most feared mage in recorded history', as Lord Mage was being called. Nobody dared call him a dark lord, though.

"Just a complex golem with enough magic to last long enough, with a control interface for movement and such." Harry shrugged. "Tom shouldn't even know he's not in a human body. It can even feel hunger and do normal biological stuff, like eat and fart, but it's still just a complicated magical construct."

"Does he have magic?" Neville asked.

Harry snorted. "Do I look like an idiot?" he asked. "His body might be a magical construct, but it doesn't gather or generate magic and it can't store or project it, either."

"So… even if he gets out-" Neville started.

"Then he'll die instantly." Moody interrupted. "That trap is so tight, even I couldn't get out of it with magic. That doesn't even take into consideration the fact that the homunculus is tethered to the cage. Even if, by some miracle he got out, he'd not have time to make alternate plans before his body gave up the ghost."

Harry chuckled at that. "Seriously, Nev. Tom is going nowhere. No summoning ritual can grab his soul. No dark magic can enter his vicinity. I've set up protections from every type of magic that could even be tried, including things that only I should know about. The amount of magic holding him is the same amount of magic I needed to use to raise one of the islands of the Mage Isles, which means you'd need more than that to even attempt to get to him."

"And even if many people work together, and can somehow get enough power to get close to him, the trap will just suck them in as well." Moody finished with a satisfied grin. "I almost hope a couple of hundred people try it. They'd rid the world of their presence for good."

"And we basically told the world that it's a trap." Harry added. "So if anyone tries, nobody could blame anyone in this room."

"What if the ICW demands his release?" Hermione asked.

Harry snorted. "They won't. And even if they did, we'll do exactly what we said. We'll allow him to exit the cage."

"Which would kill him." Moody added, grinning madly. "We might even tell him that and see if he's man enough to kill himself."

III-III

"Harry?" Hermione asked, as they sat on the porch swing-bench on one of the balconies of the Mage Fortress, as goblin and magical troops patrolled and left their view. The goblins had not left yet, even though the castle was fully staffed, and the staff were all well trained and settled. Hermione suspected that they just liked the place.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, as he continued to watch the interface feeds of the other islands. It was sort of a habit for him to take a bit of time each day to just watch the islands and watch the creatures and people living their lives.

"Are you sure that you did the right thing?" she asked. She still didn't know that she liked Harry's image being the only one protecting the Mage Isles. Withdrawing from the Wizarding World actually made sense to her, though. She had plans on doing the same, but her parents were still living in the mundane world, and she knew they would be targeted if she did anything publically. At this point, very few people knew that she worked with Harry. Their relationship was a known factor, already, but doing something like Harry had, would definitely make her parents more of a target.

Harry contemplated the question, as he looked at the images again. "Would you prefer that we continue to force our perspective on the world?" he asked, instead of answering.

"You know I don't." Hermione said. "It's just… I don't like you being vulnerable. The Lord Mage image was supposed to be your safety-net."

"It still is." Harry said, as he took her hand in his. "We didn't kill him off, you know. According to the Wizarding World, he's just gone into retirement. A threat that could come back, should things become worse again. For all they know, Lord Mage is sleeping here, even. Attacking the Mage Isles would become that much more unthinkable."

Hermione sighed as she leaned closer, placing her head on his shoulder. "I suppose." she said, seemingly accepting it. She decided to change the topic. "Have you heard of Neville's new achievement, yet?" she asked.

"No. What's Neville done this time?" Harry asked, smiling at the thought that Neville had achieved yet another amazing thing. The young man had quickly become a powerful magical and he'd had quite a few successes already. His own body strengthening and enhancement magic outshone Harry's own in some ways. He could just add more power, and never needed to keep an eye on consequences, because they instinctively compensated, rather than his own rigid control and oversight.

"He's started figuring out how to emulate the magic of ingredients in his Alchemy application." Hermione said, looking for Harry's response. Neville had been studying the properties of ingredients for a long time, and had decided to take it further, once he'd studied them enough.

"He's what?!" Harry asked, shocked and elated. "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked.

"If things work out, we may someday be able to apply a potion's effects, with directed magic alone." Hermione agreed, smiling happily at his amazed expression. "Imagine not needing to buy ingredients, but just activating a potion function and then getting the benefits of the potion, instantly. Or being able to apply those benefits to others. Or even turning plain water into any potion."

"That's amazing." Harry said, in wonder. He'd had similar thoughts, in the past, of course. De-petrifying a victim was something he'd turned into a spell rather than needing a potion, but if what Neville had achieved was true, they could probably make potions that's never been heard of or tried.

Much like with the arithmancy system, which could do things that were before unachievable, due to complexity and length, and some other factors, a potion that might require decades of time to prepare, could be nudged into completion in a much shorter timeframe. Possibly instantly, if you took into consideration his own knowledge of time magic.

Perhaps he'd try and help out a bit? A collaboration between himself and Neville, could see this project making potions a completely pointless subject, if you could do the research and just copy a completed recipe from someone, and have it just cost power.

"Neville has been spending a bit of time with the Flamels, recently." Hermione said. "I'm thinking he got the idea from Nicholas."

Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle, had agreed to let Hermione and Neville meet them, and they knew where they lived on the Mage Isles, too. They simply went by 'Nick' and 'Pern' now, as part of their public personas on the Mage Isles.

Harry got a message, just then, and he opened it up. Then he chuckled. "Two more people have appeared in holding at the secure facility." Harry said.

"Someone tried to free Tom?" Hermione guessed. She wasn't shocked, and she wasn't afraid. She had utmost faith in Harry's skills. When combined with goblin wards and Moody's own protections, she didn't even want to imagine how impregnable that secure facility would be.

"Some people tried magic on the trap in Diagon Alley, and were transported away by the automated defences." Harry agreed. "Supposedly there were witnesses, so we'll likely need to explain what happened to those 'Upstanding Pureblood Citizens' soon." he added with a dark chuckle.

"I'm assuming they aren't dead, but nobody will be hearing from them anytime soon?" Hermione asked.

"I left that with Moody." Harry said, honestly. "I think he's got a deal with the goblins, though. Best that I don't know what's happening, if they end up dead. Maybe Moody will just place the forbiddance on them and let them go. Chances are, they'll kill themselves accidentally in the first week, or simply lose their magic."

Hermione sighed again. She didn't like that they were taking this route, but she also knew only true zealots and blood-purists would be interested in freeing the madman, to continue his war on the unworthy mundane-born and mundane alike. The fact that people could send spells to detect life and find evidence of who was in there, but couldn't speak to the man, was probably for the best. No doubt he'd be ranting and raving if he could be heard. Last she heard, an Auror squadron was sent to keep an eye at all times. "Nobody else got hurt, right?" she asked, as she thought of the Aurors.

"The Aurors were the witnesses." Harry said. "Some people have already shown up to scream abuses at Tom, and to throw rotten food and less appetising things at the dome that 'contains' the man."

"He deserves it." Hermione said, scowling. "He can hear them, right?" she asked.

"Oh, yes." Harry said, grinning. "Set it up that way, on purpose. Let him take their abuse and steam in his powerlessness."

"I'll allow you to act like a dark lord, but only when it comes to him. Is that understood?" Hermione asked, sternly.

"Yes, ma'am." Harry said, smiling at her.

"Good." Hermione said, as she shifted closer to him, holding onto his arm and putting her head back on his shoulder.

They sat there and watched the last of the sun fade behind a mountain. Harry had raised it for the dwarves, and they'd started building a huge settlement for their people. There were a large number of dwarves around the world, and they had a few hidden places where they hid themselves, but the Mage Isles had drawn them like many other races.

They'd done what the goblins still hadn't though. They'd all accepted the forbiddance, and considered the Lord Mage, and now Harry, the King of the Mage Isles. Supposedly, they had had royal families in the past, but that was hundreds of years ago, and they seemed almost giddy to be part of a monarchy again. They were also enjoying the fighting coliseum quite a bit. Fatal damage was impossible there, and any wounds were healed automatically before a person exited the coliseum floor.

"We'll need to get some rest." Harry said, after another hour of blissfully doing nothing, just sitting there holding hands and listening to a bit of soft music on his interface.

"Big day tomorrow." Hermione agreed. It was to be Harry's official coronation. After the events of the day, there had been a push for a formal event, and people had basically assumed it would happen, because the workers in the fortress had been in a mad rush the moment they arrived. Fleur specifically, in cahoots with the Fairy Queen, Alette, may have had a hand in starting this event off.

Suffice it to say, Harry wasn't aware of it until he'd come out of his discussion with his friends and family. When they did come out, it was to see the aforementioned mayhem. Everyone seemed to be in on it, and Fleur was apparently acting as decorator and party planner, arranging everything from the food and drinks, to seating and someone to fill in for Lord Mage as the Master of Ceremonies. Sirius had thrown his hat in the ring, but Fleur knew he was a troublemaker and had other plans.

"To bed, then?" Harry asked, as he got up and pulled his girl up with him. They'd explored their relationship thoroughly over the last few years, and the moment Harry had turned seventeen, an occasion that was celebrated by most of the Mage Isles and had become one of their official holidays, Hermione had decided to take things to the next level. She was still a human being with all the same urges as any other, but she'd needed to be the instigator in a few cases, because Harry was a little shy when it came to such things.

"I…" Hermione trailed off, as she looked into Harry's eyes. There was passion there, and she just knew that he'd not had enough of her time. She had half an idea to go home for the evening, but now she knew those plans would not come to fruition. Not that she minded. She may have spent a bit of time perusing and purchasing skimpy underwear recently, after she'd seen his reaction to it when she showed them off, and she was wearing one such a set at the moment.

"I suppose it is my last night of being with someone who isn't an officially recognized monarch." Hermione said, with a bit of a playful grin.

Harry smiled at her, but didn't say anything. He had plans of his own. He didn't intend to be royalty on his own, for very long. The ring in his interface was going to be a present somewhere down the line, but he couldn't see any occasion, where many people would be there to witness it, coming up again anytime soon. When presented with an opportunity, Harry was one to take it.

They went back inside and Harry closed his bedroom door, before he and Hermione took their time undressing each-other, to the flicker of candle-light and soft music, which had turned to more romantic-sounding music, still playing.

III-III

The day of the coronation saw Harry pulled from bed by eager maids. They completely ignored the indignant squawk from Hermione, and sent him to take a bath. Then there were a host of things that needed doing. Someone came in to take measurements and left to go make something, coming back ten minutes later with a form-fitting black single-breasted tux, with tails. Everything about it was black, except for purple and golden accents which were supposedly there to display that he was Royalty. Harry just sighed and let them take him from there to the next stop.

Shoes were next. Then a haircut and stylist. Then there was finally a moment to eat something. Almost before Harry was finished, he was taken to the next step, where he needed to discuss something with someone who was apparently the royal speech-writer.

He didn't know that Hermione was being given the royal treatment, too, but she wasn't being rushed as much, and she actually enjoyed the pampering, which included everything from a massage to pedicure and manicure. Her stylist made her hair look fantastic, and her clothes accentuated her female form perfectly, without making her look anything but elegant and beautiful. There was even a makeup artist, who'd accentuated her eyes and added a bit of colour to her face, without going overboard.

After a few hours of being ushered around, to do all sorts of things, Harry was standing in the antechamber to the Throne room, with four of the Fortress Guardsmen, wearing their best ceremonial robes and carrying pikes with banners on them, wands strapped to their waists. They seemed to be all business, and stood at attention, straight-backed and eyes front. They stood there for only five minutes, listening to the muffled sounds of someone talking, before the door to the throne room opened.

Harry followed his instructions and walked up to the throne. He spotted a greater crowd than he'd expected. Many creatures were in attendance, and from the looks of it, nearly half of the inhabitants of the Mage Isles had tried to squeeze themselves into the place. Long decorative benches with soft cushioning had been arranged in rows and everyone seemed to be standing on ceremony. It was almost eerily quiet, as Harry walked to the front of the throne room, to be met by someone unexpected.

"Albus?" Harry asked, frowning at the man.

Dumbledore smiled a genuinely happy smile at the young man before him, his eyes twinkling like mad, as he stood there in pure white robes, that seemed both new, and well-suited to the man… if he was some sort of priest or something, anyway.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, creatures, beings and entities, you may be seated." Dumbledore said, in his calm, but carrying voice. It took a few moments before everyone had found their seats. Then, Dumbledore began.

The speech was not too long, but it did follow a certain cadence, with a couple of humorous words and turns of phrase thrown in to keep things from getting stale. And then, he had Harry kneel, while someone in what looked like a ceremonial attendant's outfit walked onto the dais, carrying a golden circlet on a pillow. Harry had ensured to put his foot down on that one. Many people wanted him to wear a gaudy giant bejewelled monstrosity for a crown. He'd talked them down to a circlet with some minor decorations. He wasn't one for grand displays, anyway. He didn't really want to make this whole thing formal, but understood that they would be judged for not doing something formal. It was also an occasion for the citizens of the Mage Isles to do something new and different.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, in my formal capacity as Royal advisor to the king, with the blessings from the ICW, and as a proud elder bestow unto thee, Harry James Potter, with the mantle of your station, as the First Publically Coronated Mage King." he said, as he took the circlet and placed it gently on Harry's head. "May your rule be blessed by magic, and be long and fruitful." he finished.

There was an unexpected glow of magic, as Magic decided to make its presence known, acknowledging the new king into his station. Everyone felt the rightness of that moment, like there could be nothing wrong in the world, in that very moment. It didn't last long, but the feeling left most of the people in the hall with a feeling of awe.

"Rise, and greet your Mage and King! Harry James Potter!" Dumbledore finished, in a loud and powerful voice.

The crowd of people and creatures exploded in cheers and yells of congratulations. There were only smiles on their faces, as Harry stood and turned, to look at all the faces behind him. It didn't shock him to see his family and close friends in the front row, clapping and cheering with huge smiles on their faces. Poppy seemed to be crying happily, too. She couldn't be a prouder mother. Her adopted son had done more than help the disenfranchised. He'd done it in such a manner, that they had decided to follow him, raising him up, even as he tried to lift them up.

Hermione showed nothing but support in her smile and her cheering and clapping.

Neville wasn't far behind.

Harry spotted a floating platform above the other people, and saw Queen Alette, with Lord Harper and what looked like most of the fairies from the queen's inner circle. They seemed to be clapping and cheering as well, but they couldn't be heard over everyone.

"Since when are you the royal advisor?" Harry asked Dumbledore, out the side of his mouth, as he did his best to try not to blush, at all the attention.

"Since I decided to retire from my other positions." Dumbledore said. "Minerva will become the headmistress of Hogwarts, next year. Kingsley will take over for me at the Wizengamot. I'm still technically in charge of the ICW for the time-being, but that is only until a replacement can be decided on. Knowing how they tend to work, I'll probably be forced to stay there for a number of years still."

"Everyone wants the power. Nobody cares about the responsibility." Harry said, mockingly.

The crowd soon calmed down, when Dumbledore held up his hands.

Then it was time for Harry's speech. It was a long and boring speech, thrown together by a team of people who'd tried to take the purpose for the Mage Isles and boil it down into a speech. Harry simplified it.

"Peace." he started. "The Mage Isles represents peace. Acceptance, freedom, kindness, caring and support. These are the things all of us want to some degree. These are the things I wanted, when I started on the actions I have taken to date, with regards to these lands." He would try not to bring up Lord Mage, because he wanted to be genuine. "Those who supported me, large influences and small, have taught me about these virtues and principles. It is due to them, family, friends and mentors, that I am where I am today."

Then, because Harry liked surprising people, he stepped down from the dais, and walked to his family and friends. "You are the ones that taught me what I needed to become who I am." He reached his hand out to Hermione, and she was shocked, but took the offered hand, and he pulled her up. "And you specifically, Hermione, have given my days so much more to look forward to."

There were squeals of delight and more sounds as some people nearly exploded in excitement, mostly from the females in the room, when Harry went down on one knee.

"And for that reason, I cannot imagine my life spent without you by my side." Harry said, pulling the box from his interface and opening it to show her a delicate but stylish white-gold ring, with small sapphires, Hermione's birthstone, around a larger diamond. "Will you, Hermione Jean Granger, consent to be my partner, and my wife?"

There was a dead silence in the room, as everyone tried to hear her answer. "Yes…" she started. The rest couldn't be heard by anyone but Harry, due to more squeals and cheering, as Hermione smiled and started crying, as Harry slipped the ring onto her finger, and stood up. Then, he kissed her deeply, to more cheering and excitement around the throne room.

Poppy couldn't contain herself. She'd already been in tears in pride at her son, and now she felt the onslaught of more emotions as she gained a daughter, who would no doubt be the perfect wife for her son. She grabbed them both in a hug, and cried her grateful tears. It was actually a little disturbing to Harry, because she looked like she was sad. She'd later reprimand Harry for driving her to that state, because her emotions had simply overrun her. She couldn't handle that much.

Dumbledore, who was still on the stage, was wiping his own tears away at the happiness he felt. This young man was probably the greatest sadness, and the greatest happiness of his life. Sure, he'd made many, many mistakes in his life, but Harry was definitely not one of them. Not anymore.

Fortunately, after the formal coronation, things changed to an informal party. Fleur knew Harry well enough to know he wouldn't be interested in stuffy formal events. And honestly, the creatures in attendance wouldn't all be suited for that. So, she decided to go in the other direction. The banquet hall had been turned into a casual seating area, with a large-dance-floor in the middle and buffet-style food on the sides. An open-air courtyard was accessible outside to accommodate those who didn't like staying indoors, and was perfectly visible through the many large open doors.

Alcohol was in abundance as well, and people didn't take long to unwind and start partying.

Hermione was inundated with questions and requests to see the ring, and she was soon surrounded by many women and creatures who were congratulating their Queen-to-be. She didn't like the curtsying, but knew better by now to mention her feelings in that regard.

"I didn't see that one coming, pup." Sirius said, as he gave Harry a one-armed hug. "First, a coronation, just dumped in our laps the day before, and now you're engaged?! That's fantastic!" he said as he tightened the hug a few times.

"Well, I don't think I saw you with anyone else, to be honest." Remus said, also smiling at Harry. "Thought you might take a few years to pop the question, though." he added.

"Well, I don't see us getting married in the next few years." Harry said. "Probably should've asked her father for permission, though."

"With Hermione's views on women's rights?" Remus asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"That's why I didn't." Harry confessed. "It should be her choice, before his. It's her life, after all."

"Think you chose the wise path there, Harry." Dumbledore said, as he joined the little group. "Or should I say, King Harry?" he asked, a little humour in his voice, before he took a sip from his brandy. He was really enjoying it. It was apparently distilled on the Mage Isles, by the dwarves. They loved the strong drink, but they also loved a robust flavour.

"Just Harry, please." Harry said. "Or should I refer to you as Royal Advisor Dumbledore, every time we talk?"

"Dumbledore is fine." Dumbledore said. "Or Albus. You're not one of my students anymore, you know."

Harry nodded at that.

"So, you'll let me know about the bachelor's party, right?" Sirius asked, getting back into the conversation. "Because I know a couple of Veela…" he started, only for Remus to clamp his hand over his mouth.

"Those are his subjects, you know." Remus interrupted. "He can't ogle his own subjects like meat, while he's supposed to be working for their equality and privacy."

"It's not like they have anything on Hermione, anyway." Harry said, easily.

"He's still not grown up at all." Dumbledore said, shaking his head, but with an amused smile on his face.

"I thought working as a life-guard at the public pool would make him less of a horn dog, but apparently it's only made things worse." Harry said, sighing.

"He's not worse." Remus said. "This is just who he is. He's a reprobate, through-and-through."

"I'm not that bad." Sirius said, as he faced them again. "And the lifeguard thing has actually been nice. I've made friends with quite a few people and creatures who enjoy the water."

"Just… try and stay friends for a bit, yeah?" Harry requested.

"Not all of them are girls, Harry." Sirius said. "I do understand the concept of responsibility, no matter what Moony tells you."

"Knowledge of, versus application of." Remus mocked.

This started a bit of a verbal back and forth of friendly mocking, and Harry soon found a moment to extract himself.

He didn't take long to find Hermione, and they quickly disappeared for some alone time, since they'd not had a chance yet.

They were not seen for a few hours, but when they were, it was noted that their perfect hair was now in their normal styles, and they'd slipped into more comfortable clothing. The happy glow to the both of them was also telling. Nobody disapproved, not even Poppy. She'd just gone up to them and hugged them, before telling them to eat and drink something.

The party lasted until well after midnight, and the guests started trickling out using the transport station in front of the fortress' gates.

Hermione didn't go home that evening, either.

III-III

The next year flew by, with the Mage Isles becoming more and more lively.

Charlie had finally had enough time to grow accustomed to the dragon form, and he was also finally inducted into the forbiddance, which allowed him to come and go between the Dragon Isle and the other islands of the Mage Isles. He preferred flying between the islands, whenever he could, because when you are a dragon, taking to the skies is a very attractive prospect.

He'd since started renting a plot and built a house, and was a constant visitor to the attractions of the Unity Isle. Strangely, he'd hit it off with the gorgon. Harry wasn't certain if it had something to do with her being a dangerous creature, or her conflicting caring nature. The spark between the pair was undeniable, though.

Dumbledore had asked for permission, and had brought Hagrid to the Mage Isles, during this year. Hagrid had obviously been amazed by all the creatures, and the creatures seemed to love the gentle half-giant. In fact, some of them had approached Harry to ask if the big man could stay. The offer was made, and Hagrid had retired from Hogwarts and moved to the Mage Isles. This was before Hagrid knew that his half-brother, a giant called Grawp, was also a resident of the Mage Isles.

Grawp wasn't overly smart, but at human size and strength, he wasn't much of a threat to people. He and Hagrid could often be found partying in the dwarven drinking hall. They also liked going to the coliseum for the fights. Grawp really liked turning into his giant size and fighting with other giants. They'd also stay to watch the dwarves as they formed parties to fight other dwarves or goblins or whoever was in the mood for a brawl, really.

Hagrid had even joined one such a party, after seeing that nobody could or had died in the fights. That's how he'd received his invite to the dwarven drinking hall.

Hagrid's job soon became interspecies cooperation. Basically, he helped where needed on odd jobs for the different creatures. Be it tiling a roof, or building plant-boxes for gardens. When he had no odd jobs, he'd easily join the werewolves or the giants with whatever project they were busy with. He was really happy with the change of scenery.

Neville had more than succeeded in more than one of his endeavours. First off, he was now able to produce basically any potion within just a few seconds, using his alchemy program. That success was linked to the fact that Harry had allowed Neville to share that particular application with Nicholas Flamel. Or at least, he'd allowed him to show it to Nick and Pern, so that they could use it with him. The alchemist and his wife had seen many strange and wonderful things in their lives, so they didn't press for access, but they were happy to help the burgeoning young alchemist.

MICA had also had more successes in bringing wrongdoers to justice. Not only in the magical world, either. An entire human-trafficking ring was brought to the attention of the mundane authorities, when an entire shipment of their human cargo had simply appeared in a different country, right in front of a UN organization building that had a large focus on such activities.

The perpetrators had been found bound and gagged, after an anonymous tip, in their various locations. They had no idea who had done it, or how, but the authorities weren't really interested in who had done it, besides maybe to thank them. For the purposes of protecting the secret, it was decided to let the authorities think that a law-enforcement branch of a different country that didn't have the right to act on the information had done what they could, but hadn't claimed responsibility, to avoid sanctions or investigations.

This situation did come up a few more times, too. Drug-smugglers, arms-dealers, other criminal enterprises, escaped prisoners, deranged killers and even spouses who abused their partners, often found their way into the hands of the authorities with evidence having somehow turned up, just beforehand, so that the authorities could handle the situations or help the people in need.

Somehow, nobody ever questioned how this was happening. Every other agency just assumed that they were all doing their jobs.

At the same time, homeless shelters found themselves with additional funding and donations of foodstuffs. Sicknesses in those same shelters seemed to become a thing of the past, too. That was credited to the additional funding and healthy foods, though. Once again, nobody questioned it.

House elves had been joining the Mage Isles, as well. Some were free, and needed a place, and some had been purchased and then helped to see that freedom didn't mean death to them. Core-orbs and a bit of counselling by very willing Veela, had helped most of them come to see the world in a new light.

The free elves of the Mage Isles, something Hermione had been putting quite a bit of time into, had started venturing out into the world using the interface network to start bringing a bit of relief to the downtrodden, with Harry handling funding where the elves reported a need. Fortunately there were some very generous people out in the world, who actually spent quite a bit of money on supporting places like that, even if it was just because they were considered tax write-offs.

With the amount of money the Mage Isles was making through all their business ventures, donations to homeless shelters around the world didn't even scratch the surface of what they had available to them. Stupidly, Harry never needed to spend money, besides purchasing some things for the Mage Isles, like fertilizer, building materials and other mundane necessities. The rest was all handled by magic and the very creatures that populated and happily maintained the islands.

Before they knew it, the last day of Tom's incarceration had arrived, and Harry and Hermione, along with a large group of their friends and family, had made the trip to Diagon Alley, to witness the end of the madman. They were also aware that someone was planning something, but Harry had taken certain steps to cement his legend, and to make him and his people seem untouchable.

III-III

They arrived in the ally, to find a large crowd of people. Reporters, civilians, a lot of Aurors and quite a few people from the Wizengamot and the ICW.

"That's a crowd." Harry said, quietly.

"What did you expect?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "You decided to make this public, after all. You do realise that you are the most famous person in the Wizarding and Magical worlds, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Harry said, sighing, as he used his system to levitate himself and the people with him across the crowd, to behind the line of Aurors who were keeping the people back. They didn't know how Voldemort would die, and it was decided that a bit of space was probably a good idea. Nobody saw anything, until Harry allowed them to become visible, using the same display as before. To the crowd of onlookers, it seemed like Harry and his people had slipped into reality, in the same way as he was often seen doing, since the original Lord Mage's retirement.

"If I may have your attention, please?" Harry asked in a tone of voice, which carried across the crowd.

"Avada Kedavra!" an angry male voice exclaimed from the crowd. There were screams of fear and panic, as people reacted to seeing the green light of the spell lance out and hit Harry Potter in the chest. Then there was silence, as Harry giggled. His friends and family seemed to be completely calm during this.

"Stop it, that tickles." he said mildly, even as Moody appeared behind the offender and downed him with one spell.

There seemed to be confusion on most faces, and shock on many others. The show wasn't over, though. Another killing curse flew out, this time cast silently, and hit Hermione, who simply rubbed at the spot, before glaring at the offender, who went down at Neville punching his lights out. He'd simply appeared in front of the man.

Another spell shot at Harry, this one was different. An exploding hex hit Harry's chest, and his upper torso exploded in a disgusting display of gore. Unfortunately for the offender, the explosion slowed down, stopped, and then reversed itself, as Harry's body reformed and pulled itself back together, his clothes once again pristine.

"That one actually hurt a little." Harry said, mildly.

The Aurors had finally decided to step up, and the third attacker had been knocked out and bound up, before any of Harry's people could, or needed to do anything.

"Anyone else?" Harry asked, still in his mild tone.

"What are you?" one of the people in the crowd yelled.

"I'm a mage." Harry said, simply. "Of course that means I can do things you can't understand. I thought that much was understood already?"

"Are you immortal?" the same man asked.

"When I want to be." Harry said, shrugging.

"And your mudbl-" an angry female voice started, as an older witch tried to insult Hermione, only to be silenced, as her mouth closed on its own. She'd find out later that anytime she tried to say anything derogatory, that her mouth would stay closed for an hour.

"I would advise that you not insult my fiancé." Harry said, simply. "We're here to see to the destruction of one dark wizard. I really hope that I don't have to do more than that."

The crowd grumbled at that, as a few nervous looks were exchanged. Nobody understood what had just happened. It had seemed like Harry had been killed, but he'd shrugged it off like it was a minor inconvenience. And then he'd threatened someone who'd almost insulted his intended. That much could be understood, though.

"You intend to kill me, then?" Tom asked, from his cage. He'd seen his people trying to free him over the last year. None of them had come through the experience unscathed. They'd all vanished, and the few who came back were apparently cursed. They still had magic. They could still even cast spells. They could not however, cast any spells that would be considered breaking the law. The ones who did not return, were apparently victims of their own spells. 'Suicide by Lord Mage' had been mentioned more than once.

"I intend to wait out the clock." Harry said, as he turned to the man. Nobody but Harry and his people could hear the man.

"What's he saying?" one of the aurors asked.

"He asked if Lord Potter was going to kill him." Neville said, from next to Harry. He'd handed the man who'd attacked Hermione over to the aurors already. Cursed and stripped of any magical items they had on them.

"What's going to happen to him?" a voice asked. Harry looked around and saw a woman from the ICW contingent. Apparently they were here to witness the destruction of the Dark Lord.

"When the time runs out, the shield collapses into a pinprick of gravitational distortion, compressing anything not a liquid in his body and ripping him to pieces." Harry said, easily.

There was a murmur of disquiet at that. People were looking a little white in the face.

"It's not an illegal spell, and it follows the rules of decency that dictate the law of the Mage Isles." Moody spoke up. "It will be a quick and painless death, and nobody here will see the results of the process, as the magic involved will dispose of the remains through a form of disintegration."

"You are too sentimental." Voldemort spat. "You should show strength, and rule with that strength. If your people don't fear you, they will not respect you."

"If I ruled by fear, I'd be like you, Tom Riddle." Harry said. "I am not a ruler because I chose to be elevated. I am one because I was placed in that position when my subjects asked me to be their protector."

"He didn't want to be a king." Hermione added. "He wanted to help sentient beings, and to befriend them. He lets the creatures set their own rules and he only enforces rules that let those same creatures get along with each other."

"All of the decisions that are made for the Mage Isles are discussed with the king, but they are drafted and discussed by a democratic committee, who are in charge of everything from justice to land disputes." Madam Pomphrey said. "He's not a king because he rules. He's a king because he rules well. He doesn't enforce his will, he gives people options. He offers support. He builds them up."

"That is how we of the ICW understand the situation as well." the apparent spokesperson for the ICW said, nodding along. "The Mage Isles were accepted as a country, because of Lord Potter's drive to help those creatures that we didn't even know were being abused. He's ensured to offer the support of his lands, by making potions ingredients available to the market that would be unavailable now, thanks to Lord Mage's actions. Not that we disagree with those actions." she added hurriedly. She really didn't want to cause more issues. Harry Potter was a wonderful young man, who'd been very accommodating, and heard them out when things were not on solid ground with Lord Mage.

"The Wizengamot does not condone the actions taken by the Mage Isles, in sentencing the Dark Lord Voldemort, without our input or agreement." someone from that group of people stated. Harry knew the man. He was usually one of the few that stood up for Harry and Lord Mage in the Wizengamot, with Dumbledore. "That being said, we didn't even know that the Dark Lord was still alive, before he was brought to us in his current state, and it has been decided to allow the proposed punishment, because it was Harry Potter who brought him to justice, and made us aware of his survival. Thank you, your majesty, for bringing closure to so many people of the British Isles."

"You are welcome, sir." Harry said, nodding at the man, who sent him a hint of a wink.

"Just so you know, we still consider you a citizen of the British Wizarding Community." the man decided to add. "You know… just in case more dark wizards decide to show up." he added, as he openly smiled.

"Then I'll consider rendering aid, should such nuisances decide to show up." Harry said, nodding again. Then he turned to Tom again. "You have one minute left. Speak your last words. These last words will be audible to the gathered people here."

Tom glared at the entitled little shit before him. "I hope you all suffer and die for allowing this to happen." he said. "I am Lord Voldemort. I was going to save you all from the mudblood filth, before they could take over and destroy your way of life. I was going to put a stop to werewolves, vampires and giants being forced out of the Wizarding World."

"The same werewolves, vampires and giants who now live on the Mage Isles, peacefully and happily?" Harry asked, interestedly. "I think that it was your Pureblood supporters who forced them into those situations to begin with. I've heard enough confessions under veritaserum, to know that to be a fact, actually."

"That's illegal!" one of the reporters shouted, angrily.

"In the Wizarding World, maybe." Harry said.

"I would remind everyone here that the Mage Isles has its own laws." Dumbledore spoke up. "Laws that may be new, but that are brought into law for the betterment of all, as opposed to those in power."

"It is time." the reverberating voice of Fawkes stated, as he and Hedwig flashed in, with him landing on Dumbledore's shoulder, while Hedwig went to Harry.

"Let it be over." Hedwig said. The white phoenix was known about, already. She'd not hidden herself from the world, and loved showing up wherever Harry was, even when he was at an ICW meeting. The fact that it should be impossible, because magical travel was blocked, meant that she'd had quite a bit of fun doing that.

"You will rue the day you-" Tom started.

He didn't get to say more, as the magical shell around him collapsed into nothing. In the remote location, Voldemort had turned to paste, while the goblins on watch enjoyed the disgusting spectacle of his body liquefying and dropping to the ground, before it started burning to ash, to cheers and drinks being poured.

"And?" Moody asked Harry, who was looking at his interface.

"Tom Riddle's soul is no longer on this mortal coil." Harry said, as a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

There was an abrupt explosion of sound, as those gathered suddenly cheered. Harry was happily surprised to see most of the people there were celebrating the end of the monster.

"Well done, Lord Potter." the ICW representative said. "We of the International Confederation of Wizards hereby award to you the Order of Merlin First class, for services rendered to our world. We'll let you know when the official ceremony will be held."

"Poppy Pomphrey, Bathsheda Babbling, Alastor Moody and Albus Dumbledore were instrumental in first capturing and then imprisoning Tom Riddle. I'd appreciate them getting some recognition as well." Harry stated.

"A note will be made, and we will certainly be able to accommodate that." the woman said, nodding.

Harry nodded at her, before he turned to his friends and family. "Want to get out of here? I'm feeling like Pizza."

And just like that, all of the people with Harry disappeared with him.

III-III

Back in the fortress, Harry stopped the program which had allowed him and his people to remotely operate the magical constructs that had stood in for them. It was magically costly to run the program, but it came with the benefit of leaving them completely immune to outside influences, when they were basically possessing dolls that looked and acted like them.

"Those people will likely never try to attack you again." Neville stated, after he'd shaken his head. The process left them slightly disoriented after it was stopped.

"Did you see those aurors' eyes after you exploded?" Moody asked, a wicked grin on his face. "Bloody pansies." he added.

"I knew it was coming, and still felt disgusted." Poppy said, shuddering. She'd not liked seeing it, even though she knew Harry was safe.

"Harry, how were we able to be here, and there?" Dumbledore asked. He'd still not figured that part out. He'd felt his body on both sides, and he'd been aware of his real body the entire time.

"Ravenclaw's Diadem." Harry said. "I needed it for something I'm working on, and realised that it could be useful for something like this."

"So… we were all using it, at the same time?" Poppy asked. From what she knew of the interface, that shouldn't have been possible. Not with one artefact, at least.

"Oh, that's simple." Harry said. "I copied the effect. It's not for long-term use, obviously, but if I had time to work on it, I could potentially create real copies that could work permanently. I still need to study the long-term effects on the human mind, but that's already in my plans."

"I actually helped with that one." Gryff said, from his normal spot on the coffee table. He'd not been there, but he'd been connected to Harry's interface and hadn't missed a thing. "The mind and magics of the mind are still my speciality, after all."

"And your help and insight are always appreciated." Harry said, nodding at his friend. Then he looked at his friends and family. "So… Pizza?" he asked.

III-III

Harry had spent a few years on private research after the final death of Voldemort. Hermione knew some things, because she'd helped him with some effects and working out how to achieve certain things, but she didn't see how everything intersected. She'd been busy with her own projects, anyway.

The Mage Isles kept expanding with more creatures, which included most of the House Elves on the planet. The Wizarding World didn't have a choice, really. Fortunately for those who had treated the elves with kindness, they had returned to their families freely, but they were no longer bound to service.

The elves had that right, after all. They could, and often did leave to visit the Mage Isles, where classes on freedom and safety was a mandatory thing for them. Fortunately, the Elves of the Mage Isles had been able to assure the recently freed house elves that it wasn't a trick, and they wouldn't die without their families. For those who wanted to return, that was still their choice, but they couldn't be bound to families anymore.

Harry had finally had his latest project ready, and was excited to try it out, so he'd called in a couple of people. Sirius, Fawkes, Hedwig and Gryff, who was in his normal human form.

"So, what are we doing, pup?" Sirius asked. He recognized this group from their DND days. He assumed there was a fun evening ahead of them, and he was already smiling, as he looked at the others who were waiting in anticipation in Harry's lounge.

"I called you here to help me test something I've been working on," Harry said, gesturing beside him.

From nowhere, a door materialized. It was crafted from heavy oak, its surface marked with intricate steel straps that stretched from the hinges like curling vines, forming unfamiliar runes. Black iron rivets studded the straps, glinting ominously in the flickering light and casting restless shadows on the floor.

"Well, that's new," Sirius said, his hand twitching toward the curved iron handle. Its cold, smooth sheen beckoned him, exuding an unspoken promise… or a challenge.

"What is it, Harry?" Gryff asked, circling the door. Despite its ordinary appearance, he could feel it wasn't tethered to this room. The air around it thrummed, thick with potential, as if the door itself pulsed with secrets waiting to be unveiled. This was no standard teleportation portal.

Harry stepped aside, a faint smile playing on his lips. "See for yourself."

Sirius was at the door in an instant, his curiosity overriding any hesitation. His fingers curled around the iron handle, and a shiver ran through him. It turned with a satisfying click, and the door creaked open, as though stretching after a long slumber.

A whisper of air escaped the crack, cool and tinged with something ancient and unknown.

Through the door, only darkness loomed, an impenetrable void. The light from the room barely reached beyond the threshold, illuminating only a sliver of smooth stone floor.

Sirius hesitated for only a moment, his curiosity far outweighing his caution. He stepped through, his boots echoing softly against the unseen walls. Harry followed close behind, Gryff on his heels. Without a sound, the two phoenixes flew in, claiming their familiar perches on Harry's shoulders, their feathers glowing faintly in the gloom.

As the last foot crossed the threshold, the door behind them swung shut with a decisive thud and began to fade, the carved runes and rivets dissolving like smoke until only the featureless wall remained.

For a heartbeat, there was only silence—vast and consuming. Then, from everywhere and nowhere at once, a deep, ancient voice echoed, carrying with it the weight of countless adventures yet to come.

"Welcome, adventurers, to the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Please… choose your race and class."

-The End-