The Path Not Taken: An EWE Harry Potter RP

Epilogue, What Epilogue? —The Background Storyline

It is September of 1998. Lord Voldemort has been dead for four months; the Wizarding world is slowly recovering from the terror wreaked by the Death Eaters. Muggledom remains (mostly) unaware of what truly happened, assuming simply that 1997 and 1998 were very bad years for natural disasters. The economy is a bit down, as the goblins still hold Gringotts very tightly against what they feel is an unstable government. However diplomatic Kingsley Shacklebolt is with them, they are inherently untrusting—with reason. Minerva McGonagall has taken over the running of Hogwarts, though with running the school and teaching transfiguration, she's a bit overworked these days.

Our characters are trying to move on with their lives:

+ Severus Snape has somehow survived Nagini's attack, and is in hiding with Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy. He wants to stop running away and find a safe place to spend the rest of his life.
+ Harry is back at Hogwarts for his seventh year, as he still wants to be an Auror and thus needs his NEWTs. His mind, however, is more often occupied with new things to do to with Ginny.
+ Ron is at Hogwarts, too, under pressure from Mrs. Weasley to finish his schooling. He finds it nice to have three square meals a day and a soft bed.
+ Hermione, also, is finishing her seventh year, though after the trials they went through hunting Horcruxes, the classes seem awfully easy, and she begins to chafe.
+ Ginny is of course completing her seventh year, and plans like Harry to become an Auror.

But the Death Eaters, under new leadership, are not as dead as the Wizarding world wants them to be. The Daily Prophet, now with Xenophilius Lovegood as an advising editor, finds itself reporting disturbing stories: disappearances, Dementor attacks, Muggle murders.

Available Characters

At Hogwarts
+ Harry Potter — played by me for now
+ Ginny Weasley — played by Crunch for now
+ Ron Weasley — Crunch
+ Hermione Granger—kionaredhawk
+ Luna Lovegood—Seridano
+ Neville Longbottom (optionally at Hogwarts)
+ Minerva McGonagall — x_cannibalisticcows
+ Filius Flitwick
+ Pomona Sprout
+ Horace Slughorn
+ Pansy Parkinson—kionaredhawk
+ Cho Chang — xLillianxRosex

Outside Hogwarts
+ Kingsley Shacklebolt
+ Severus Snape — x_cannibalisticcows
+ Draco Malfoy — x_cannibalisticcows
+ Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy — Marguerite Blakeney
+ Mr. and Mrs. Weasley
+ George Weasley
+ (other canon characters welcome, with justification and plans)

Death Eaters
+ Mysterious New Leader played by me
+ Alecto and Amycus Carrow
+ Rodolphus Lestrange
+ (other canon Death Eaters welcome, with justification)

Nota Bene: There will be NO original characters in this RP, excepting as absolutely necessary. All must be cleared with me.

How to Join

+ Please PM me an application with the following information:

Character Desired:
Have you read all seven books?
Which is your favorite, and why?
Links to examples of prior roleplaying experience:

+ This is to be a literate RP. While I'd like long posts -- a paragraph or two -- shorter posts are perfectly fine as long as your grammar and spelling are intact.*
+ No God-modding, of course.
+ My ideal players would check the thread daily and give advance notice if unable to do so. I recognize that this isn't always possible, but that's my ideal.
+ As the narrator, I will be controlling Death Eater activities, posting Daily Prophet articles, and moving the storyline along.
+ Romance between characters is welcome, but the furtherance of the plot is the primary goal here.

+Our OOC thread is here. Come chat while we build up membership!

*I often wish I weren't such a stickler for grammar, but sadly I am. I blame my mother, who's an English teacher, and my middle school, which actually had GRAMMAR as a subject. (I had to diagram sentences and everything.) If you'd like to join the RP but are concerned about grammar stuff, just PM me. I'm super-happy to explain things. You can also check out a website like this one for help.

Reserved again

More Reserved!

Reserved!

Reserved #4

Reserved still...

And another reserved, just in case...

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

*reserved*

*reserved*

*reserved*

*reserved*

NOW OPEN

The Daily Prophet
Xenophilius Lovegood, Editor-in-Chief

September 1, 1998

First Day of School for a New Generation

Hogwarts opened its doors at last today for the first class of students who will grow up without the threat of You-Know-Who. Though He Who Must Not Be Named was defeated just this past June, in the scant four months since the school has been fully repaired and rebuilt, employing the largest number of licensed magical contractors ever used on a single project, excepting the stadium for the Quidditch World Cup when Britain last hosted it in 1994.

Despite worries that the foundations would not be able to withstand the load, the four Houses' common rooms are remaining in their traditional places: Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in their respective towers, Hufflepuff in the basement near the kitchens, and Slytherin in the dungeons under the lake. New reinforcements were built over the Slytherin common room after investigations showed magical deterioration in the watertight seal surrounding that area. All of the school's towers, particularly those holding the dormitories, have been enchanted with the Slip-and-Fall-Not Spell, recently patented by Griswelda Yiplander, to prevent any further accidents like those witnessed in the past few years.

With much pressure from the students' parents, Professor Minerva McGonagall has agreed to remain this year as Headmistress, as well as teaching her usual Transfiguration classes. The oft-vacant post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be filled by John Dawlish, an Auror. The position of Muggle Studies, however, remains vacant.

It has also been revealed that Harry Potter and his two friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, will be returning to Hogwarts to complete their seventh year.

Dearly Departed with Destination, Determination and Deliberation

Long-time Apparation instructor at the Ministry of Magic, Wylkie Twycross was found dead in his London flat today when he failed to show up to a regular weekly departmental meeting.

Twycross, who for the past seventy years has regularly been the on-location Apparation instructor at Hogwarts, will be sorely missed by the magical community at large.

He is survived by his wife, Harriet, four children, eight grand-children, and thirty-seven great-grandchildren, three of whom had looked forward to having him as their Apparation instructor this coming spring during his annual Hogwarts visit.

No cause of death could be found.

Reorganizations at the Ministry

Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, who enjoyed a landslide victory in the recent election, has once again shocked many of the conservatives by appointing Arthur Weasley as head of the Improper Use of Magic Office. Weasley, who has a history of "getting carried away with Muggle junk," as one anonymous colleague said, said in a formal statement that he was "thrilled" to have the appointment.

"As the fight against You-Know-Who has shown us yet again, magical power in the wrong hands can wreak horrible catastrophes, whether or not those using it intend good or evil," he said in his brief speech to the assembled press.

Though Weasley has not yet released any formal statements of his future plans in his new role, rumors are circulating among his colleagues and subordinates that he may soon make drastic changes to the department.

Minister Shacklebolt, when questioned about the appointment, said that Arthur Weasley's tireless committment to the wizarding world had long gone unrecognized, and that he could think of no one better to fill a role "perched within that fine line of equilibrium between the Magical and Muggle worlds."

Hermione closed the Daily Prophet, actually kind of smiling at the fact that she had been mentioned. The last time it had made her furious but now they seemed to be being nice. She sighed. They were on the train to Hogwarts once more. I wonder how the school's going to look. It said that all the repairs were done but I still wonder, she thought. Then images of the place flashed through her head as she remembered the last time they had all been there, the amount of destruction. Then images of Ron popped out of nowhere and she could feel the heat of a slight blush rising, as it often did now whenever she thought about him. Then she remembered another piece from the paper and had to grin. Arthur Weasley was now a man in charge. She had to laugh just a little at that, imagining Ron's father as such. It was funny. She sighed again and leaned back in her seat, dumping the paper next to her in case the boys wanted to read it.

Pansy was still trying to find a compartment to sit in. Many of the Slytherins that remained shunned her, shutting her out of their lives. She had expected this but she had thought that maybe somebody would talk to her, take her in. She was getting to a point where she was going to start crying. She took a deep breath, calming what she could. She continued her way down the corridors of the train, trying to find a place to seat but really, a place to belong.

Harry heard the crinkle of the paper as Hermione read through it. Typical Hermione, he thought, actually reading the paper instead of just glancing at the headlines. He could see a few of them from where he sat, across from her in the rattling train compartment: "Reorganizations at the Ministry" and "... Hogwarts." He wondered about that last article; maybe there was news about the school's new faculty. Over the summer the Prophet had appointed, of all people. Xenophilius Lovegood as the editor-in-chief. Maybe, he thought, honesty really is the best policy. Luna's wacky father had done well, despite his problems during the Voldemort years. Harry felt his face stiffening into a frown as he remembered seeing Mr. Lovegood at his house, trying to trick them into staying long enough for the Death Eaters to get to them. But Mr. Lovegood had had a reason back then, as the Death Eaters had taken Luna.

The past is the past, thought Harry, resolved not to judge — at least, not too harshly — people by what they'd done when Voldemort was in power.

Harry looked around the familiar train compartment, at Hermione (or at least at the paper behind which she sat), at Ginny next to him, at Ron next to Hermione, and grinned to himself. It was going to be a great year, he knew it. All four of them, seventh years. He'd get to play Quidditch again, get to have tea with Hagrid, have regular meals again! He was especially looking forward to spending time with Ginny, at their place by the lake. Oh, and classes. Oddly, he was sort of looking forward to classes.

As he glanced around, he caught sight of Pansy Parkinson passing by the compartment, on her way somewhere. She didn't look happy, though he'd never remembered her looking like a terribly cheerful person. Seeing her made her think of Draco Malfoy, and wonder where the Malfoy family was these days. Hadn't they left England or something? He didn't know. Nor did he particularly care.

The sound of Hermione sighing and tossing the paper down next to her caught his attention.

"Anything good in there?" he asked.

---

She hadn't chosen a title for herself yet, but that would come. Someday, with time and followers, that would come. For now, she looked over the newspaper, noting that they'd reported that idiot Apparation instructor's death, and pursing her lips at the phrase "No cause of death could be found." Some poisons were so subtle that even the Ministry couldn't detect them.

It was already September, and the brats—Potter, Weasley, Granger, and the other Weasley—were heading back to Hogwarts. She knew she wouldn't be able to get at them in the castle, but those four weren't necessary to her plans right now. First off, she needed more followers, more loyal Death Eaters. Her thoughts broke off at that phrase. Should she continue to use the Dark Lord's name for his group of cronies? The name itself inspired fear, which was good. But the name also inspired action, defense, now that the Dark Lord had been finally defeated and the Wizarding world had gotten cocky about the Dark Arts.

She crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into the burning fire across the room. A shabby room, too shabby for her rank and station. Not even a house-elf anymore, after the Death Eaters had killed him. A motion caught her eye, and her wand whipped out. "Avada Kedavra!" The mouse didn't even have time to get out a squeak.

She stood up, her robes falling straight to the floor with extra hem at the bottom. Her mother's robes, too long for her. Her mother's house—no matter what that blasted will had said—too big for her alone. But it had passed to her, and it was free. If only it had come with a house-elf.

Well, she could find a house-elf later. For now, she needed to send some letters.

Luna scanned the platform, smiling when her father popped through the barrier and pulled her into a tight hug. The two, already close, had grown even closer since she'd returned home from the Death Eater's clutches intact, despite the long hours that Xenophilius' new position presented him with. In fact, Luna had spent a number of hours floating about the headquarters of the Daily Prophet, and a number of her father's workmates had taken to the sweet, if odd girl. 'like father like daughter' they often remarked with amused smiles as she spouted off what sounded, to them, like nonsense with all the seriousness of student answering a question in class.

Letting go of her father she found herself swept into the midst of the crowd pushing their way toward the Hogwarts Express. A bounce in her step, she hurried toward the train as it gave a shrill whistle, annoucing that it would soon be departing for Hogwart. Another year to be spent with her best friends. She grinned as she imagined all of the little adventures she was sure to share with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville this year.

Whistling a merry little muggle tune she'd learned over the summer, Luna stepped onto the train and made her way past compartment after compartment, stopping at each one to peer inside. Passing one, two three, she peered inside yet another compartment, found it full and gave its occupants an understanding smile and a wave before disappearing from view. It often happened this way. Even after the battle, people had a habit of looking at her a bit strange and insisting that the compartment was full, that they were waiting on a friend in the loo or some other such story, and Luna continued to take it in stride. A smile, a word or two of understanding, and she was off to search for yet another semi-empty compartment in which t place herself. This year however, she was looking for a specific compartment, or rather specific individuals who would no doubt be sharing a compartment.

Another window and, bingo! Luna beamed as she spotted the familiar faces of her friends in the next compartment over. Inching the door open she gave a little wave, greeting them in her customarily air tone, as though her mind were elsewhere (and a faraway elsewhere at that) "Hello everyone, how was your ---?"

Movement down the corridor caught her attention however and she paused suddenly, her brow furrowing in thought. "Excuse for me a moment." She disappeared from view and headed toward a figure that was, in ways, as familiar to her as it was foreign.

Luna had never really spoken to Pansy Parkinson, but she was well aware of the fact that the girl had likely had a hand in a number of the pranks and rumors directed at her over the years, but as things always found a way of righting themselves in the end, Luna had never been bothered by the girl. Anyone else would likely have held a grudge against Parkinson, but at this stage, one had to wonder if Luna had it in her to hold a grudge against anyone anymore. With the Dark Lord demolished and the Death Eaters tucked away behind bars where they belonged, the future seemed far too bright to blight with silly little things like schoolyard grudges. Instead as she bounded up to the girl, she offered her a tentative smile full of understanding. "It doesn't look like there are many compartments left." She paused a moment before continuing. "You can share one with me and my friends if you'd like." As she extended the offer to the other girl, her head cocked slightly to the side in question, giving her a look reminiscent of a curious rabbit.

Hermione started when Harry spoke to her. She was honestly lost in thought and they weren't very pleasant at that moment. But she covered herself well enough and smiled a little at Harry. "Of course. It's almost always good these days. But there was an article about Hogwarts in there and all of our names were mentioned, which now that I actually give it some thought, I don't think I appreciate. Now the whole wizarding world knows that we're seventh years that should have graduated already. Anyway, there was an article about Ron's father too, which we knew would run. And then there was a death. Strange though, that an Apparation instructor would die like that. Also there was..."

Luna pops her head and Hermione stops mid-sentence. Then she pops right back out again. She frowns but shrugs. She had been getting used to her doing things like that. She looked at Harry again and holds out the paper. "You could read it yourself, you know."


Pansy turned when the bouncing girl came and talked to her. Her eyes narrowed just a little bit. She had teased this girl--Luna or something like that--often. So why was she talking to her? She frowned and thought about the offer. "Um...but I...well, I was never good to you, Looney, oh, Luna. Sorry. You really are asking me to come with you though? Nobody else wants me around..." Then she smiled because she finally saw the cute little look on Miss Lovegood's face. "Oh, I don't see why not. But if your friends don't want me around, don't be surprised." She was trying to be nice and wasn't sure if she was succeeding. "After you."

Despite the mention of her ever famous nickname and earlier on purpose torture and trickery at her expense, Luna seemed to take Pansy's words as something approaching an apology, or perhaps she had never felt slighted by the other girl to begin with. Regardless of which it was she seemed completely content to invite the Slytherin to join her for the duration of the train ride.

"I've been in your position before." She informed the other. "People used give me the strangest looks when I came to join them in their compartments.There are never many seats left when you're late." Again her head tilted ever so slightly, this time to the other side and her brow scrunched as though she were contemplating just why that was. However, a moment later she seemed to let it pass, or perhaps she'd simply forgotten about it, and extended her hand toward Pansy. However, instead of shaking it in the manner of a truce, Luna grabbed for her wrist and started back down the corridor toward the compartment containing her dearest friends, absolutely sure that, while they might not give Pansy the warmest welcome in the world (even Luna wasn't a stranger to the bad blood between them), they were friendly folks and in time, everything would work itself out, just as it always did.

Stopping just before the compartment, Luna turned to give Pansy a surprisingly serious look. "Don't worry," she told the other in a gentle almost musical tone that was completely at odds with her strangely dire expression, "everyone deserves a second chance." With that said, she continued on.

"I've brought along a friend for the trip," she announced as she appeared in the doorway of Harry and Hermione's compartment once more, her lips curved in a sweet smile.

Harry had just taken the paper from Hermione and was about to, per her suggestion, read it himself, when none other than Luna Lovegood poked her head in the doorway.

"I've brought along a friend for the trip," she said.

Harry's first thoughts turned to Neville, who he hadn't seen much of over the summer, before he remembered that Neville wasn't attending school anymore. The realization startled him, and for a moment he really felt the impact of dropping a year behind: it wouldn't be the same group of boys anymore in the dormitory. Would he even have the same room?

He brushed those thoughts aside for later, and looked past Luna to see who she'd dragged along with her.

"Oh," he said. "Er, hi, Pansy." What else could he say?

Hermione looked at the door again when Luna popped back in but this time with an extra person. She stood up, wand in hand before realizing what she was doing. It was an automatic response from the last year. She put her wand back and sat back down, glowering. Harry's response was far better than hers. She took a deep breath and then smiled. She knew that even though it was a weak one and surely faint, that the attempt might be appreciated.

Pansy just stood in the doorway, looking at her feet. She used to be so proud and now look at her. She finally lifted her head but didn't make any eye contact. "Hi, Potter. Weasley, Granger, hallo. Sa...Sorry for intruding. I'll try to find a seat somewhere else." She turned to go except that Luna still had her wrist. She looked at the little girl with a small frown.

Hermione managed to finally find her voice. "Wait. Uh, I mean, I think it would be alright for you to stay. I imagine most other compartments are full. Just...stay, alright, Parkinson?"

The uncomfortable girl nodded. "Oh...ohkay." She looked at Luna and managed a tiny smile. "Could you let go of my wrist now so we can sit down?"

Harry watched the encounter between Hermione and Pansy Parkinson with great interest. Hermione's automatic drawing of her wand startled even him -- usually she'd been the one to wait and see. Then again, Harry thought, remembering some comments of Hermione's back in their fifth year about "that absolute cow," the two girls probably had a longer history than he and Pansy had. Whatever history they had, he was sure Hermione had a good reason to be cautious. To her credit, though, Hermione calmed down quickly and even invited Pansy to stay in the compartment, despite the other girl's offer to leave.

As Pansy moved, albeit uncomfortably, to join them, Harry tried again to make polite overtures. "So... how was your summer?" he asked.

It was a lame question, he knew, and possibly traumatic—he suddenly remembered asking Cho the same question a few years ago, and her eyes filling with tears at the thoughts of Cedric that must have automatically surfaced. But he didn't remember Pansy as a crybaby, so hopefully even if he'd hit a nerve, she wouldn't burst into tears. He didn't know how to deal with girls when they were crying.

Luna sported a beatific smile as the others slowly but surely accepted Pansy into their fold for the time being. It seemed that she'd be right after all and she couldn't have been prouder of her friend. Second chances, after all, were not the easiest things to bestow, especially when one had a history of sorts with the person in question. It was definitely a step in the right direction she told herself, nodding to no one in particular as she let go of Pansy and settled beside Hermione, or perhaps she was simply responding to Pansy asking her to let go of her hand. With Luna, it was often hard to tell at times.

With everything looking well and truly settled for the time being, Luna's gaze settled on the copy of the Daily Prophet that Harry and Hermione had acquired and her eyes lit up. Now they read her father's paper (and she thought of it now as her father's paper as surely as she'd thought of the Quibbler as her father's paper, even if she didn't always care for what was in the Prophet). "May I see the paper?" she asked, quiet voice breaking the silence that had settled briefly over the companions.