A Decade After Darkness: Secrets, Scandals, and the Man Who Ended It All
By Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet
It has been almost ten years since the day the Dark Lord fell for the final time—ten years since the skies above Britain crackled with spells fierce enough to scar the land itself.
And yet, even now, the truth of that fateful day remains buried deeper than the vaults in Gringotts.
For years, the public was told comforting tales—that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had perished at the hands of Harry Potter, the so-called Boy Who Lived Twice. But whispers began to spread, as whispers always do, that the story was not so simple.
Now, after a decade of quiet reconstruction, reliable sources inside the Department of Magical Law Enforcement have confirmed what many of us long suspected: the Dark Lord's final years were spent possessing none other than the late Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts' revered Headmaster.
Shocking? Outrageous? Perhaps—but those who followed the old man's policies will remember the peculiar decisions that baffled even his staunchest allies. His refusal to act decisively during the war, his inexplicable trust in the wrong people, and the odd inconsistencies in his last recorded speeches—all, it seems, were symptoms of a darkness far more literal than anyone imagined.
When the scandal broke, it sent tremors through the Wizengamot. Suddenly, every dubious pardon, every misplaced Galleon of war funding, and every suspicious law proposed during Dumbledore's later tenure began to make perfect, horrifying sense.
"How could we have missed it?" one senior official confessed to this reporter under the condition of anonymity. "The signs were all there… We thought he was tired. We were wrong."
As for Harry Potter himself—or Lord Potter, as he is formally titled these days—the man remains as elusive as ever. Officially, he lives abroad with his wife, the celebrated Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour, now Lady Delacour-Potter. The pair have kept far from public life, rarely seen in Britain except at state events or Wizengamot sessions.
Those close to the couple describe them as "content" and "reclusive." Yet one must wonder: what truths still linger unspoken between them? What secrets did Potter take with him when he walked away from the broken Hogwarts that day?
For now, the wizarding world continues its slow healing, rebuilt on the ashes of both tyranny and misplaced trust. But one question still burns birghy—if even Dumbledore could fall under the Dark Lord's control, then who, truly, can claim to be incorruptible?
Trust this reporter to find out!
"Merlin, has she not grown tired of spouting the same crap year after year?" Fleur said exasperatedly, putting the newspaper down.
Harry rolled his eyes at his wife's antics and didn't stop reading the book in his hands.
"No, I'm serious—"
"Hey, that's me!"
"Not now, Sirius," Fleur admonished without losing a beat. "She's been telling the same exact story for seven years now and tries to make it sound as if it's some hot news, but it's not! It's just the same crappy story. Is there really nothing else to report on?"
Harry finished the page he was reading and fished a little paper from the start of the book that he used as a bookmark.
He looked up to see Fleur standing right in front of him.
Her hair was as long and lustrous as ever, but it had darkened a shade since they first met, though when the light caught it just right, that silvery glow still appeared—the same that first caught him by the lake so many years ago.
Fleur's face had barely softened, still bearing the sharp edges of youth, yet she carried herself with the quiet grace of a woman who knew her worth. The years had done nothing to dull her beauty; if anything, they had given it depth.
Sirius was sprawled on the couch opposite them, boots up, robe unbuttoned, and a grin firmly in place. His hair was unchanged, still sleek and dark, and Harry assumed magic was at play. The Azkaban hollowness that had once haunted his face was long gone, replaced by a certain rough vitality—like an old dog who'd learned to enjoy the sun again. The fact that Harry managed to get him declared a free man may have helped. That actually happened very soon after he killed Voldemort and still had control of a significant amount of votes.
And then there was Harry…
The boy who had once been defined by a lightning scar and a too-large pair of glasses was now unmistakably a man.
His hair was still as hopelessly messy as ever—Fleur claimed it defied even magic—and the years had done nothing but add strength to his frame.
He bore himself a little differently now: shoulders straight, movements measured, and taking as little shit as possible from others—meaning none whatsoever.
There was still that restless fire in his green eyes, which Fleur sometimes called his dragon eyes, and every time she did, Harry pretended to hate it.
He set the book aside, smiling faintly. "You'd think she'd have run out of adjectives for me by now," he said.
"Oh, give her time," Sirius quipped, flipping another page of the newspaper. "She'll start describing your heroic stubble next. 'Harry Potter—now with rugged, morally ambiguous facial hair! He's almost as handsome as his godfather now!'"
Fleur laughed, her voice as musical as ever. "I'd like to see an article about his mesmerising eyes instead. 'Harry Potter—Dragon Eyes! Is he part Dragon?'"
She leaned down, brushing a lock of Harry's hair back into place as he groaned in mock pain.
He caught her hand before she could pull away, and their eyes met.
"I don't know, your eyes are much more enticing than mine," he said with a saucy wink that made her blush and Sirius roar with laughter.
That was the scene that the last person in the house stumbled upon.
"Mum? Why were you shouting before, and what's a crap?"
Fleur froze, one hand halfway to her mouth, and slowly turned toward the stairs.
At the bottom stood a small girl of perhaps five, barefoot, with a cascade of pale-gold hair that refused to be tamed. Her eyes—brilliant green—watched her parents curiously.
Harry immediately choked back a laugh. Sirius did not.
"It's… a word you should not say, darling," Fleur said sweetly, glaring daggers at Sirius before crouching down to her daughter's height.
"But you said it twice," the girl pointed out helpfully.
"Did I?" Fleur blinked innocently. "I must've meant crêpe. Like the dessert."
"That's not what you said," the child replied, her tone carrying the stubborn confidence that could only have come from either of her parents.
Harry abandoned all attempts at hiding his grin. "She's got you there."
Sirius cackled from behind the newspaper. "Told you, Fleur—raising a Potter means the sass starts early."
Fleur couldn't help but groan in defeat.
…
Well, I guess this is it. Dragon Eyes is done.
Holy shit.
It's been quite the experience, and it took much longer than it should have, but it is what it is.
First of all, allow me to thank every single one of you who read until this point, because frankly, that's crazy. Big shoutout to everyone who stopped by Patreon and supported me there. It wouldn't have been done without you!
I know this fic is crap, excuse me, I meant crêpe (I'm funny, I know), but I feel like I could do much better now, and if you're wondering what's next, the answer is: more fics! I've been writing this Tom Marvolo Riddle story, which really excites me, and hopefully I'll start posting chapters of that before this one is out.
Now, if you have any questions about this fic (stuff I didn't mention, did a bad job at explaining, or just missed), feel free to ask them wherever you are reading this from, and I'll do my best to answer them.
Some unanswered questions are:
Q: How did Fleur react after Harry killed Voldemort and came back home?
A: She was very mad. In fact, she didn't say a word to Harry, despite still living together, for a whole week. Harry was getting anxious at that point.
Q: What is Harry's daughter's name?
A: I've no idea, feel free to offer your own.
Q: Does Sirius ever settle down?
A: Yes! He meets a Greek healer with whom he has great sex, and they hit it off, eventually having two kids, twins, of their own.
Q: What about Neville and Hermione?
A: They also stay together and have three kids. On a side note, Harry visits Nev's parents and manages to find out what's wrong with them. After a month of research, he manages to bring them back. Neville swears to be his brother in all but blood.
Q: Where are the Potters now if not in Britain?
A: Why in Greece!