Years after the end of the war, in a sunlit corner office at the top of the Ministry of Magic, Minister Amelia Bones was enjoying a rare moment of peace, sipping her tea and reviewing budget proposals. Her office door chimed softly.
"Enter," she called out, expecting her undersecretary.
Instead, the door opened to reveal Ariana Dumbledore, looking as serene and timeless as ever.
"Ariana!" Amelia said, a genuine, warm smile spreading across her face. She immediately stood up.
"To what do I owe the pleasure? Please, sit. Tea?"
"Thank you, Amelia, but I can't stay long," Ariana said, her own smile small but sincere. She took the chair opposite the Minister's desk. "I am currently cleaning up some lose ends of the old war days. Just a few weeks ago, I gave the Black Family elf the locket of Regulus Black, not the real one, instead the fake one that Regulus himself had exchanged for the real one and hidden. He said he had no need for the real artifact, but the fake one belonged to Regulus himself, so it holds some sentimental value. The real artifacts are currently at Hogwarts as they should be. Anyways, as I was reviewing some old project files and I came to discuss another loose end. A financial matter."
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"My bounty on Tom Riddle," Ariana stated, her voice holding a note of dry, academic self-critique.
"It was, from a certain perspective, my one true strategic failure of the war."
Amelia looked at her, baffled. "A failure? Ariana, it was a masterstroke! It sowed chaos and paranoia in his ranks. It turned the entire criminal underworld into our personal intelligence network. It was brilliant."
"As a psychological operation, it was effective," Ariana conceded with a slight nod. "But as a bounty, its primary objective was to lead to his capture or death. In the end, that objective was achieved through direct intervention, rendering the prize money unclaimed. The Lestrange fortune has been sitting in a Gringotts vault, accruing interest, ever since. It is an idle, inefficient asset."
She placed a heavy, official-looking Gringotts folder on Amelia's desk.
"I have no need for it," Ariana continued. "My own projects are self-funded. Therefore, I have instructed Gringotts to liquidate the entire Lestrange vault and transfer the full sum into a new Ministry fund." She slid the folder forward. "I believe you will find the endowment sufficient to upgrade the entire Auror department with new training facilities, better defensive equipment, and to double the salary of every active officer for the next fifty years."
Amelia opened the folder and looked at the number written on the Gringotts transfer order. The amount was so staggering, so astronomically large, that she felt her breath catch in her throat. It was enough money to fundamentally reshape magical law enforcement for generations to come.
"Ariana… I… I don't know what to say," she stammered, for once in her life at a complete loss for words.
"There is nothing to say," Ariana said simply. "The money was acquired in the course of protecting the wizarding world. It is only logical that it should be used to continue doing so. Consider it a grant for a safer future."
She then smiled, a hint of genuine warmth in her eyes. "It seems the idea has become contagious.
It seems I am not the only one engaging in… philanthropic restructuring."
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, intrigued.
"Sirius Black," Ariana explained. "After he completed the seizure of the Malfoy assets, he found himself in possession of a vast fortune he had no interest in. Inspired, he said, by the idea of using a dark family's wealth to create something good, he has decided to fund a new project."
Her smile widened. "He is establishing a new home for orphaned and displaced magical children. A place of safety, education, and genuine care, to ensure that no child ever has to grow up like he, or Harry, did. He is calling it the 'Lily Potter Memorial Home for Children'."
Amelia's eyes, usually so stern, grew misty. The thought of the reckless Sirius Black becoming a patron for orphaned children was a beautiful, powerful irony.
"And that's not all," Ariana added, a final, even more surprising piece of news. "His old school rival has apparently decided to contribute."
"You can't mean…"
"Yes," Ariana confirmed. "Professor Severus Snape has volunteered his services. He has established a permanent, pro-bono contract with the home. He will be brewing and supplying all of their necessary potions, with a special focus on nutrient-rich formulas for malnourished children and calming draughts for those suffering from trauma."
She looked at Amelia, her periwinkle eyes holding a deep, quiet satisfaction. "It seems even Severus Snape has found that the logic of healing is, in the end, more compelling than the logic of holding a grudge."
Amelia Bones leaned back in her chair, a slow, wondrous smile spreading across her face. She looked at the young woman before her, the quiet catalyst who had not only won a war, but had inspired its survivors to build a better, kinder world from the ashes.
The Malfoy fortune being used to help children. The Lestrange fortune being used to fund justice. A Black and a Snape working together for the legacy of a Potter.
It was a world no one could have ever predicted. It was a world made better, not just by grand battles and powerful magic, but by quiet, logical acts of profound, transformative kindness. And it was a world that Ariana Dumbledore had, in her own quiet way, built.