Circumstances of Change

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, not mine. Nor is the title. Thanks to Meagan for that!!
Warnings: Selective Weasley and Dumbledore bashing; Severitus
Beta'd by: Meagan! Thanks so very much!!!!
A/N: And so the end has arrived. Thank you all so very much for sticking with me for this long and putting up with my inconsistent updates. I hope you enjoy it. Again, the ending to this I've been planning since the beginning. It was actually where I got the idea to write the entire story so I'm kind of sorry if you don't like it.
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"Who's dead?" Harry demanded.

"Dumbledore." Bill had picked up the paper. "'Late last night Professor Flitwick, Hogwarts' Charms instructor, found Headmaster Dumbledore, Miss Ginerva Weasley, and Mr. Ronald Weasley dead in the Headmaster's office. It has been determined by members of the Auror department that the three victims were poisoned. They found traces of snake venom in Dumbledore's dish of lemon drops. After having caught Peter Pettigrew, people are speculating that Pettigrew poisoned the Headmaster and Mr. and Miss Weasley. The capture of Pettigrew also makes Sirius Black's innocence far clearer than after he passed through the Veil of Shadows in the Department of Mysteries. Black was retrieved from the Veil by Mr. Weasley's eldest brother earlier this year and has since been completely cleared of all charges.

"Upon arriving at the Ministry with a team of Aurors, Pettigrew drew a potion vial from his pocket and downed the contents. He was dead within seconds. It appears he used the same venom to poison himself, Mr. and Miss Weasley, and Headmaster Dumbledore,'" Bill stopped reading and looked up at everyone in the room. "After that it goes on speculating about what Dumbledore's death means for the fate of the wizarding world and what not."

"So Pettigrew managed to do his job. Good," Harry turned and left the room.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, following him.

"I need to think. I want this to be over with but I'm not sure anymore that I can do it, Hermione. I mean, I know he's an evil bastard and that he'll keep killing people, but he's my grandfather."

"I've been thinking about that, actually. Do you think that he only got this bad because his wife died in childbirth? I mean, I know that Aideen said that she saw the man he would become after she died, but do you think that it was caused by her death and not him just being an evil bastard?" Harry was silent, thinking about that for a few minutes.

"I don't know. I suppose it's possible," he allowed, finally. "I just don't know."

Later that evening, Harry was pacing in his office, still wondering what to do. Finally, he sat in his chair and relaxed. Once again, he found and followed the link he shared with Voldemort. Reaching the man's mind, he called out for him again.

"What is it this time, Potter?"

"I wanted to talk about your wife."

"What does she have to do with anything?" the demand was harsh.

"Her ghost visited me a few weeks back and I was wondering about a few things." It was silent for a moment before he spoke up again.

"What do you wonder about?"

"Your daughter, Lillie, mostly."

"She died in childbirth with Aideen."

"See, Aideen told me differently. She told me that, because she was a Seer, she knew what you would become and so she had a good friend of her's adopt Lillie."

"Impossible. No one I knew then had my child."

"I don't expect you knew Aideen's muggle friend though, did you?" He was silent again. "But I have another question. I want to know if you took revenge after your wife's death and that's how all of this started."

"Of course it's not, Potter. Who gave you that ridiculus idea?" Being connected to his mind, Harry knew he was lying and knew that he and Hermione'd been right. "I'm far more interested in what Aideen told you about my daughter."

"She told me that a good friend of hers, Rose Evans, had adopted her. Rose changed the spelling of her name to be more like the flower, Lily."

"So my daughter's name was Lily Evans? Did she tell you anything else?"

"Yes. Lily went to Hogwarts and after graduation was married to a man named James Potter. Congratulations, you have a grandson."

"No! I don't believe you!"

"You know I'm telling you the truth! You can hear it in my mind!" Violently, Voldemort left his mind. Harry's head jerked back with the force of it; there was nothing to do now but wait and see what happened.

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"No, absolutely not! It's impossible," Voldemort was pacing his own study. "Aideen wouldn't have done such a thing without telling me."

"But I did," Aideen's ghost appeared before him, still speaking Gaelic.

"Why? Why would you do this?"

"I didn't want Lillie to be a part of this life you've created. Though destroyed is a far more acurate term."

"He's my grandson?"

"He is," Aideen faded away.

Voldemort sank to the floor. He'd always wanted a family of his own. That's what had caused him to want revenge. The mediwitch who had been in the room when Aideen died had been a muggleborn. He had blamed that woman for their deaths and started all of this.

"No more." He whispered, standing up. He called Nagini to him and then summoned the Death Eaters.

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The day after Harry told Voldemort that he was his grandson, everyone woke to find that all the dementors were back at Azkaban, and every Death eater was locked up as well.

Nagini was curled up at the bottom of Harry's bed when he awoke. "I mean you no harm," She said imeadiately. "My master sent me to tell you that he is gone, never to return. He would not tell me where he is going. He asked that I tell you that he says to live a long and healthy life, he will not disturb you again. And that I give you this," Harry recognized the wand Nagini had wrapped in her tail. It was Voldemort's.

"He's gone?" He asked.

"Yes, young one. If I may make a request of you?"

"Of course."

"It is my wish to stay here, if this is agreeable for you. I will remain out doors and away from everyone, if that is what you wish of me. But I fear the others may kill me if I am found by them."

Harry only took a moment to consider this odd proposal. "Stay in the castle, Nagini. There's more than enough room. Just let me warn the others first."

"You are very kind, young one."

A/N: I know this took so very long for me to get out. I've had so much trouble writing it and I don't really know why. I've had it planned this way forever. I hope you can forgive me for taking so very long. Finally, the epilogue, which I swear will be out in just a few minutes, will contain the revealing of Charles Emerson Winchester the Fourth and company.