Chapter Text
It was two whole weeks later when Professor McGonagall eventually convinced Albus that they had to return to Hogwarts and the schools de-merged. Not one person was happy that it had finally come to an end and there wasn't a dry eye in sight, as they said their goodbyes. The gang had all swore that they were going to stay in touch and Harry had even gifted them an owl of their very own so that they could write whenever they wanted.
A lot had happened in the two weeks between ultimately defeating Voldemort for good and Hogwarts leaving Cackle's.
Hermione had insisted on sending an owl off to Olivander's and requesting personalised wands to be made for Mildred, Maud, Enid, Ethel, Sybil and Esme. She had agreed to send them various spells to learn in lessons that she had made up herself. In return they had agreed to send her notes on Chanting that they were learning, in order for her to be able to improve. She never could turn up an opportunity to learn something new.
They'd also all made firm plans to get together during the summer, and spend it at Malfoy Manor with Narcissa and Lucius' approval. As there were so many of them, the Manor would be perfectly equipped for them all.
When it had came to getting Dobby to leave though, they had hit a snag. The house-elf had completely refused to leave the new school and return to Hogwarts. It turned out that he had become very close to Miss Tapioca, and they had been having a lot of fun creating new recipes together. He had also become very attached to Hecate and couldn't bare to leave her. So Dumbledore had rather begrudgingly decided that he could stay, on the understanding that if he ever changed his mind he would let Albus know straight away.
In other news, Agatha had finally been arrested by the Auror's after it had come to light that when she had finished her time in Wormwood's she had went straight into hiding. That wasn't the shock to them, but the knowledge of what followed after shook them all. She had began doing some research into magical schools and how to steal them from undeserving self righteous twin sister's. It was then that she had discovered Hogwarts, and as she delved further into the history she had discovered that it was founded by four extremely powerful wizards. She was only interested in one of them though, and had proceeded to do further research in to Salazar Slytherin. She had ended up discovering that she was actually a direct descendant of the man, and that she was only one of two that were still living.
It was then that she came up with a brilliant plan;
Agatha had proceeded to track down Merope Gaunt before murdering her. She had then assumed the other woman's identity. There was a slight hitch in her plan though, when she had accidentally become pregnant and nine months later gave birth to a baby boy whom she named Tom Riddle. Yes! The exact same Tom Riddle that would later be known as Voldemort, the Dark Lord and the most infamously evil wizard ever to have lived.
She had left Tom on the steps of Wool's Orphanage, swearing to the boy that she would come back for him when the time was right, and she did. Just a few months before he was taken to Hogwarts by Dumbledore.
Agatha had shown up on Tom's eleventh birthday and told him who she was and her plan. The boy was fascinated by the power that Agatha had shown him and had readily agreed to do what ever she wanted when she promised that he could also be that powerful one day. And thus, the rein of the Dark Lord had began.
Agatha had personally orchestrated Tom's life from then on. She had moulded him into the man that he had become and had also been the one to command him in doing whatever she wished. She'd then sat back and watched as the chaos unfolded, loving every minute of it.
Her original plan of trying to take control of Hogwarts was quickly forgotten though, as her son thrived in becoming the most powerful wizard of all time. They began plotting to take over the whole of the wizarding world and eventually the universe as a whole. That was of course, until the Potter brat was born and had succeeded in destroying all of Agatha's hard work.
She had then begrudgingly returned to her very original plan of taking over Cackle's, but she had also been as unsuccessful as her son, as Mildred Hubble had managed to best her everytime.
And now her life had spiralled as far as it could go. Her son was dead, she had been sentenced to life in Azkaban, her powers had been removed again, albeit permanently this time and Ada still had control over Cackle's. Everything that the dark witch had worked long and hard for, had been destroyed in a single day.
In happier news, Pippa had officially become Ethel's guardian and she had slipped into the role of parent as easily as if she had been doing it her whole life. Ethel also seemed a lot happier now that she didn't have the burden of trying to compete for her mother's attention or affection, as Pippa gave copious amounts of both to her quite freely.
Esme and Sybil were unsurprisingly upset to learn that their sister wouldn't be living with them anymore, but they also both agreed that since Ethel had been in the care of Pippa she was a lot happier, nicer and more relaxed these days. The three of them had actually grown closer now that Ethel was no longer jealous of them.
Miss Pentangle had promised that both girls could visit their sister anytime that they wanted and she was actually excited to be hosting girly sleepovers with them.
Julie and Hecate's relationship was stronger than ever. It had taken them only a week after Voldemort's defeat and Agatha's imprisonment for them to declare their love for each other. Both women had become very upset when Albus had announced that the schools would be de-merging, as it meant that Julie would have to leave to go to Hogwarts. But Ada had come to the rescue at the last minute and declared that she wanted to keep Muggle Studies as a subject in Cackle's, and she wanted Julie to stay and teach it.
Albus had been furious and had actually threatened to stage a protest, as he wasn't ready to have his newly acquired best friend ripped away from him. But Julie had come up with a solution and suggested that he hired Emma Granger as his Muggle Studies teacher, as she has spoken to Julie about wanting to retire from Dentistry and follow her original dream of becoming a teacher. Albus had immediately summoned Emma and hired her on the spot. Julie had actually been a tad offended at how quickly he had let her go, but also ecstatic that she wouldn't have to leave Hecate or Mildred.
Severus and Pippa had officially started dating and the students had noticed a subtle change in their usually cruel Potions Professor. He was a lot more relaxed these days and gave out far fewer detentions. The students had summarised that he must have just needed to get laid. Harry could have sworn that Snape had smiled at him one time, but the thought was so outrageous that he brushed it off as a trick of the light.
Fred and George Weasley had decided as a 'Welcome back to Hogwarts' prank, that they would re-charm Dumbledore's diary as it had been so fantastic last time. And the consequences had been even more disastrous this time, when the whole school found out at breakfast one morning that Albus Dumbledore was actually the true culprit behind the reason for the merge in the first place.
Apparently the Headmaster had become so bored one day, what with the lack of excitement of Harry's third year, that he had actually cast the spell and burned down the castle himself. Professor McGonagall had been so furious at discovering this, she had promptly launched her unread Daily Prophet straight at his face, resulting in the wig that nobody knew he wore being knocked viciously off his head and landing in the soup. Apparently he had been too embarrassed of anyone finding out he was actually bald.
He had been forced to admit to Minnie that he had already known about her cousin and the magical school that she ran. He had been reading up about Mildred Hubble and had became intrigued about the way the school taught its student's magic. It was then that he formed the plan. He was actually going to suggest merging with Cackle's himself, when luckily Minerva had beaten him to it.
After his confession, he had been forced to apologise to all of the Hackles students and staff by a furious Minerva and an equally angry Severus; who had screamed at Albus for blaming members of his own house and even going as far as to actually expel them. The Headmaster had done this rather begrudgingly and it went something like this:
'I'm so sorry that Hazza and his gang didn't do anything at all exciting in their first few months of third year, and that I was forced to burn down my own school as a result, just so that everyone wouldn't suddenly die of boredom. But you should all at least be a tiny bit grateful because if it wasn't for me, you would all still be absolutely miserable, Voldemort wouldn't be dead and Agatha wouldn't be in Azkaban. So... You're welcome!'
Minerva had threw a spoon at him this time and he'd narrowly avoided a direct hit to his forehead, by dragging Snape in front of him. The angry Potions Master could now be seen sporting a spoon shaped bruise on his head and was refusing to talk to Albus.
All and all his plan had worked out perfectly and nobody could find it in them to be truly mad at him, at least after the first week, because he was right about the merge. They wouldn't have gained half of the new relationships and friendships that had quickly become the most important things in their lives. So all in all, he counted it as a win.
THE END
...... For now