Rose Lily Potter and the Avengers
A/N: You people are beautiful. I like reviews. The longer ones or the ones with questions will get responses. I love communicating with you people.
I own none of this.
I almost put a spoiler here. What is wrong with me?
Oh, I'm taking ideas for Marvel characters that should make cameos or Omake ideas. The main plot-line and a few minor lines are all that are really decided. My story is fluid at the moment. After all, Geoff was never supposed to have a sister, but I changed my mind about five minutes before I wrote Jaiden.
New country, new OCs. I'm in heaven. (I have an OC writing problem, someone stage an intervention)
"Another language"
Thoughts
English
~Parsel~
Before the seas and lands had been created.
before the sky that covers everything,
Nature displayed a single aspect only
throughout the cosmos; Chaos was its name,
a shapeless, unwrought mass of inert bulk
and nothing more, with the discordant seeds
of disconnected elements all heaped
together in anarchic disarray.
Metamorphoses by Ovid (8 A.D.)
Chapter 5: A Pipe Dream
June 2002
The Athens Academy of Transfiguration was one of hardest magical buildings in the world to hide. Located directly underneath Mount Pentelicus, the Academy was always watchful of the work taking place in the marble quarry that worked in the mountain. Several times, the quarry workers came close to uncovering a room of the Academy, but strategic cave-ins caused the workers to assume that area was unstable and they avoided digging in those areas.
With over one hundred apprentices enrolled at any given time, the Academy had dozens of classrooms of various sizes to accommodate everyone, as well as one dueling arena. All these rooms had only one thing in common; everything was made/transfigured from marble.
Marble was the single hardest thing to transfigure in existence, and it was the only thing that apprentices were allowed to start with in their work. The Masters didn't hand out objects for them to transfigure, they just made the apprentices find a transfiguration pattern that was viable. For example, whereas it was not possible to transfigure straight from marble to a bird, you could transfigure the marble into rock, then clay, then a teacup, then a bird.
It was a result of this teaching style that resulted in many of the old Greek myths. The Masters at the time never did find out what Daedalus was trying to transfigure when he created the Minotaur, or why he tried to hide it in a labyrinth in Crete.
The Masters that taught at the Academy were generally only scheduled for short periods of time, with only a few that remained at the Academy full time.
Minerva McGonagall was one of those Mistresses that taught at the Academy occasionally, and always during the summer. But this was the first summer that she had a former student of hers waiting to greet her after her portkey trip.
She had told Minerva to expect her, but Minerva was surprised when she encountered a very subdued Rose Potter in the entrance hall as she portkeyed in.
"Mistress McGonagall. A pleasure to see you again."
Minerva's shock was very clear on her face at such a greeting, so she could be forgiven for reverting to an old war-time precaution.
"Rose, what did I tell Umbridge when she constantly said you would never become an auror?"
The slightest tilt of Rose's lips was the only amusement Minerva got out of her. "That you would do everything in your power to make sure I became one. Of course, it didn't help that I changed my mind after the war." Only ingrained habit made her ask a follow up question, "Where did I go this past September before I came into the school for a visit?"
"The forest, to retrieve something you had left from the war. Why did you address me as you did? You can always call me Minerva, Rose."
Rose winced and looked out of the corner of her eyes at the other people loitering in the room, "Please, Mistress. Apprentice Potter is more appropriate. Shall I help you to your rooms, Mistress?"
Minerva just set her mouth into as tight a line as possible and nodded. She would get her answers in private if it were the last thing she did. As she walked with the young woman through the halls towards the Masters' Quarters, she attempted some idle small talk, but kept questions about the country as a whole, and got favorable responses from Rose.
Finally, they arrived at Minerva's temporary office, which her bedchamber was off of, and Minerva waved Rose to enter the office. As she shut the door to her office behind her, Minerva found herself in a tight hug from the young witch.
"Oh, you have no idea how good it is to see a friendly face, Minerva."
Rose pulled back from the older woman, but Minerva just pulled her back into the hug.
"What's been happening to you, dear?"
"Nothing, really. I just miss everyone."
Minerva pulled back from the other witch and looked at her curiously.
"You're lying to me. You've been away from everyone for longer periods than this and been fine. I know you talk to Hermione and Teddy every night, and Ronald almost as often. What's really the problem? Have you made friends here?"
Rose withered under her stern ex-transfiguration professor's stern look and gestured to the chairs, but Minerva just pulled her into her bedchamber and sat her down on a couch. She called an elf for tea and motioned for Rose to speak.
"Well, I guess I haven't really made any friends here. Everyone really seems divided into two camps when it comes to me. You've either got the people who revere me because of my bloody fame, or you've got the people who seem to not want me here entirely. I don't exactly feel welcome here."
Minerva was appalled. "Why ever not? What have they got against you? Are they blood purists?"
Rose shook her head. "I haven't really seen all too many of those types around. They just… Well…" Rose rubbed her hands together nervously before she reached into her robes and pulled out two medallions. Minerva gasped as she looked a Rose's hair and noticed the hairclip was missing.
"Why are you not wearing those?"
"It's just easier. The comments just kept getting on my nerves."
The Headmistress narrowed her eyes, "What have they been saying?" She received a shrug in response.
"It's nothing important. They're just being stupid."
Minerva just pulled Rose's hand over to her and ran her thumb over the words scarred on the back of it. "Forgive me if I don't just believe all is well. I still haven't forgiven myself for these scars when I told you to keep your head down. You're going to put your medallions back on and tell me what they are saying and why you suddenly care about what the public is saying."
Rose hesitated, so Minerva gave her a bit of her teacher's glare™ and Rose complied. Once her medallions were back in place, she let out a huff before she began.
"Most of the comments are about how I must think I'm such a big shot with my masteries even if they're in soft subjects like Charms and Defense." Minerva looked incredulous at that, especially the Defense part. "Yeah, that's what I thought, but they just keep going on and on about how Transfiguration is the hardest subject and mine are pointless. And it's just getting bloody annoying; even though I know they're wrong. But I can't just hex them to prove that Defense is better, because that's not only immoral it's also slightly illegal. So, they just keep running their mouths like they're the best thing since Merlin. I've just been trying to keep my head down and not wearing the medallions has helped a little."
"What about the other group? What are they saying?"
Rose scoffed. "The bloody fanclub? They just make everything worse. It's Lockhart all over again. They just keep giving the Transfiguration purists more things to throw at me."
Minerva closed her eyes for a moment. "Now that's not a phrase I've ever wanted to hear. Transfiguration purists. What have the Masters done about it?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "They're included in those two groups. But there are more purists than fans."
"What on Earth is wrong with these people? Is that what the whole ordeal in the entrance hall was about?"
With a sigh, Rose nodded. "Yeah. Everyone is really big on proper titles here."
"That's strange. It wasn't nearly as bad last year. So why aren't they calling you Mistress?"
Rose just raised an eyebrow and Minerva caught on.
"Ah, because Charms and Defense doesn't matter, huh? We'll see about that."
"No, no, no. Just leave them be. There's no need to get involved in this."
Minerva was confused. "What? You want them to keep this up? I certainly don't want to see the transfiguration community filled with arrogant airheads who think themselves to be above everyone else. Just imagine what would happen if they came across a Dark Lord. Their arrogance would be their downfall and there would be no Defense Masters to save them if they alienate them. I dare say that your fellow Defense Masters will be appalled when you tell them this."
"Why would I tell them about this?" Rose was genuinely confused.
"They're disrespecting you, and by extension, the rest of them. The Defense community may be small compared to the rest of the Magical World, but they should be respected as any other Masters. You could just challenge them to a duel and put them in their place, Rose. You and I both know from the war that some people don't react to mere words."
Rose scowled, not at her former professor's viewpoint, but from a technicality, "Not here. Apparently the new rule is that any duels have to be Transfiguration only."
Minerva matched Rose's scowl. "What on Earth had been happening this past year? I know that we've always had a proud Transfiguration community, but even at the Academy, I've never heard of this much intolerance for other magical arts." Minerva ignored her irritation for a moment to focus on the girl in front of her. "But why should that affect you dueling? You've used transfiguration in dueling before. And you are probably ahead of schedule once again on getting your mastery."
Had Minerva not taught the girl for so long, she might have missed the look of self-loathing that flitted across Rose's face before settling into a mask of indifference.
"I really don't care. They can talk all they want. I won't let them get a rise out of me. I'm doing better at controlling my impulsiveness."
Minerva wasn't convinced and she really wanted to discover the reason behind the self-loathing she had caught.
"How are your classes coming along?"
"They're fine."
The short 'all is well' comment was as good as a confession from Rose and Minerva hopped off the couch as fast as her aged bones would allow her and moved into her office, with the younger girl scrambling after her. Minerva touched a rune on her desk and thought of the name she wanted. When a few pieces of parchment appeared on her desk, she snatched them up and turned back to the confused girl to read.
"Apprentice Potter is struggling with the most basic of tasks and cannot follow instructions. Apprentice Potter has shown no improvement." Minerva was starting to get angry as she continued to read her fellow Masters' words. "Apprentice Potter is wasting our time. Oh Merlin, don't teach if you have no patience. Here's one that respects you at least. And it's longer than one sentence. Mistress Potter shows no aptitude for transfiguration. This is surprising given her studious nature. Mistress Potter knows the theory extremely well, but seems to have trouble starting most transfiguration chains. It is possible the marble is a barrier, but based off her Defense mastery, she should have plenty of magical power to transfigure marble."
Minerva looked up and was pleased that instead of the self-loathing she expected to see on Rose's face, Rose looked frustrated.
"So, is this 'fine'? Or would you rather tell me what's wrong so I can help?"
"Well, no. But I'll figure it out. I shouldn't expect to get this as quickly as I picked up Charms and Defense, right?"
"Well, let's have a tutoring session right now. We'll see if I can't get you over this little bump."
Three hours later, no progress had been made and the confused Hogwarts Headmistress and frustrated student were very unhappy.
"Okay, Rose. I'm not sure what the problem is, so I want you to give me an extremely detailed account of everything you are doing. Don't leave anything out."
Rose gave the small slab of marble another glare before turning back to Minerva.
"I'm intending to eventually change the marble into a toothpick. My transfiguration path is marble, rock, steel, needle then toothpick. The incantation to start is 'marmadtram' with a counterclockwise half circle starting from top to bottom." Minerva nodded and Rose continued. "I'm pushing my magic into the transfiguration on the emphasized and and…" Rose was cut off.
"What do you mean by, 'pushing your magic'?"
Rose looked over at Minerva's befuddled face. "You know, you have to force your magic into a transfiguration."
"I've never heard of anyone having to push their magic into a transfiguration. How long have you been doing that?"
Rose dropped her jaw a little. "My whole life! I couldn't do any transfiguration until I figured that bit out."
Minerva scowled, "I remember you took two weeks to really get started in my class, but I remember one day you came in and had caught up with everyone. I figured you were just struggling with the visualization like a lot of muggleborns do."
Rose shook her head. "Once I had seen you turn into a cat and back, any problems I might have had with visualizing one object turning into another went away quickly. Are you telling me that I've been transfiguring wrong for 10 years?"
"I don't think so, dear. Transfigurations don't just accidently work. But it sounds like there's a barrier there somewhere. What is confusing me is that if you had a barrier on your magic, you would have to force all of your spells."
"All I've ever had to force is Transfiguration and things like a Patronus and the Aegis, and you're supposed to have to force those. Do you know how I'm supposed to fix it?"
Minerva frowned. "I'm afraid not. I'll have to check my books and ask a few questions. I'd recommend you keep attending your classes and work on not forcing magic into transfigurations in your spare time. Start with the basics, if you must. Now, let's move to a lighter subject, since we've been working for so long. Are you actually going to show up at the conference next weekend or are you going to skip another one?"
Rose quirked her head to the side, "What conference?"
Minerva paused for a moment and put her head in her hands. "Oh, sweet Morgana. Remember, Minerva, you love this girl." She raised her head to stare at Rose. "The ICW conference, Rose. The biyearly weekend conference. You are aware that having a Mastery grants you a seat in the ICW, right?"
"What? No one has ever told me that before. Why have I not heard of this?"
"I'm just going to guess that it's because everyone thought you knew and just didn't want to attend."
Rose groaned. "What else don't I know? Have I upset anyone by missing them? Can I set a proxy for the seat?"
Minerva indulged herself with a rare long sigh before setting her lips into a tight line. "You can't and shouldn't proxy this seat. Every vote in the ICW is important, Rose. No one is going to make a big fuss over the ones you've missed so far, but you really should be at them."
"I'm not saying I won't go. I just want to know these things. I feel like I'm always learning something new that I should have known for a long time. But I won't make you explain all this to me. I'll make 'Mione explain it to me when I call her tonight."
"It's no problem, Rose. I'll probably have to go early next weekend, so we'll find someone to portkey with you."
"Thanks. I should go. I was actually supposed to call 'Mione a half hour ago. If I don't, she'll stay at work all night. I'll see you tomorrow, Minerva."
Rose pulled her Invisibility Cloak out of her bag and held it up to her old professor. "Easier to avoid the idiots." She threw it over her head and walked quickly out of the office, intent on having a long chat with her best friend about assuming she knows things.
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It was three days after that conversation that Rose got an unexpected mirror call.
Rose had just fallen asleep in her small room at the Academy when her mirror began buzzing much louder than normal. Rose groaned and tried to focus on the annoying noise. It took her several seconds for her brain to recognize the volume of the mirror, but she shot up quickly when she did, since the mirror would only be this loud if it was an emergency.
She quickly grabbed her mirror and activated it. "Potter."
"I need you in London. Two hours ago."
"Draco? Grimmauld Place?"
Draco Malfoy merely nodded in response, but Rose saw a storm of emotions behind his eyes.
"I'll be there as quick as possible."
Draco shut the mirror off without replying and Rose quickly jumped off her bed and threw on a dressing gown and some slippers and hurried out her door. Once she arrived to the entrance hall, she ran to the fireplace that was connected to the floo, threw some powder into it and said, "Greek Ministry of Magic."
She reappeared in an atrium similar to the British Ministry, but with a lot more marble and a lot more columns. She walked straight up to the security desk and quickly got to the point with the lone security guard in the empty atrium.
"Do you know if I can get an emergency international portkey made at this time?"
The guard scoffed and rudely waved her off. "Not at this hour. You'll have to wait until morning. And the portkey office here usually comes in late on Fridays, so it'll be about an hour before noon. Tough luck."
Rose glared at him. She would have retorted, but she did have somewhere to be.
She turned away from him and walked towards the apparition point. She had a backup plan, but she had never attempted to do it. It would supposedly wear out most witches and wizards, but she didn't really have a choice.
Rose took a second to visualize her destination, as she had only been there once. She took a deep breath and turned on her heel. A second later, Rose fell onto the ground inside the empty and dark Great Coliseum of Rome.
She took a few seconds to get up and compose herself from the long distance apparition before she visualized another location and turned again. Rose fell onto her knees upon arrival and immediately lost the contents of her stomach in the middle of the magical district of Paris. A lone wizard was in the alley, and he just ignored the girl, probably assuming she was trying to apparate while drunk.
Rose took a few deep breaths before she stood up again. Another apparition like that would have probably been impossible for another few seconds, but London was much close to Paris than Paris was to Rome. She turned on her heel one last time and appeared inside the sitting room of Grimmauld Place, thankfully not waking the only occupant of the room, who was much shorter than Draco Malfoy.
Rose tiptoed out of the room, leaving little Teddy Lupin asleep in the armchair and headed towards the kitchen, where she found Andromeda and Draco sharing a cup of tea. Her attention was immediately drawn to the blood stained cut of Draco's sleeve, but the skin underneath was fine, likely healed by Andromeda.
"Hey, guys. Draco, are you alright?"
Andromeda looked up and gave Rose a tight smile to the woman, but Draco just continued to stare at his cup of tea.
"I'm fine. Can you please call a meeting?"
Rose forced a fake smile as she walked over and leaned down to get closer to Draco's face. She forced him to look at her. "I would, but someone is in my chair."
Draco blinked and looked at the table he was seated at and realized that he was indeed sitting at the head of the table, a place Rose would certainly need to formally start. He silently stood up and moved to the seat opposite of Andromeda, which was to the right of the head. Rose sat down in the vacated chair and dropped her fake smile, as it was not helping Draco as she had hoped.
Now she just had to deal with useless extremely outdated formalities.
"Hear ye, oh most Ancient and Noble House of Black. This instance of meet of the revered House of Black is now in session. In attendance is the entirety of House Black, with Rose Potter-Black serving as Head. To the left of the Head is Andromeda Tonks-Black and to the right of the Head is Draco Malfoy-Black. Also in attendance is Edward Lupin-Black, current Heir to the House of Black, who is in another room of this Noble Manor of the House for reasons that prevent his presence at the table. This meeting is called by Draco Malfoy-Black at his request. We shall hear from Draco Malfoy-Black after I have conferred with the House and found that everything is in order."
Rose shook herself out of that dreadful monologue and glanced over at Andy to make sure she had gotten all of that right. After getting the nod, Rose pulled out her wand and summoned the Black family Ring to her. She held the ring tightly in her hand and pushed her magic into it.
What happened next was hard for Rose to explain. According to Andy, past Heads had written that at the first House meeting they presided over, an imprint of their personality had split from them and integrated into the magic. Rose finally understood what that meant as she felt what felt like a small crowd of generalized consciousness just outside of her perception. Rose tried and failed to truly focus on the consciousness mix, and everything seemed hazy inside of it, but Rose could clearly make out what felt like her own consciousness in the mix.
Rose lost herself in her thoughts for a moment as she thought about what she was witnessing, before she realized that the House (that's what she identified the consciousness mix as) was quite narrowly focused. Outwardly, Rose smiled as she confirmed Hermione's hunch on how to deal with the House.
Inwardly, Rose sent a single thought at the House, The Ancient and Noble House of Black is in meeting. Head Black is presiding. How says the House?
A generalized acceptance came from the House which gave Rose all the incentive to continue.
"The Magic of House Black is in attendance. Will Draco Malfoy-Black stand and speak his piece?"
Draco stood with every bit of regality as he had grown up with, looking every bit the pureblood prince.
"Head and House Black, I came before you with two requests. The first is very simple. If it pleases the Head and House, I would like to formally renounce my claim upon the name of Malfoy and change my name from now and forever to stand singularly with the Most Noble name of Black. The name of Malfoy would only bring shame as members of that name with no relation to the House of Black have acted in manners unbefitting members of nobility such as those of the House of Black. Thus this is my first request. I will hold my silence of my second request until the House and Head have passed judgement on this request."
A few moments passed as Rose noted the extremely intricate way Draco had just asked for a name change. Whether by luck or design, the wording was as such that Rose had no doubt the House Magic would accept it.
Rose quickly sent Draco's exact wording to the House as well as her own acceptance of the request and got an acceptance in response.
"The House and Head of Black have come to an agreement. Draco Malfoy-Black, your request is granted. What is your second request?"
Rose looked into Draco's eyes and was startled to see that he was terrified behind his mask.
"My second request is as follows. In my immediate blood family, I have a brother that was cast out of the name of Malfoy for various reasons not of concern to the House of Black. As he was the Son of a Daughter of Black, he was simultaneously thrown out of the House of Black when our father threw him out of the name of Malfoy. However, an opportunity has arisen for the Noble House of Black to bolster its numbers. This denounced brother of mine has miraculously found himself with a magically strong daughter. Her father, the scum that he is, hates and renounces magic and as such, hates his daughter."
Rose felt her blood chill as she continued to listen. It was an eerily familiar scenario to her own and she could almost prophesize what Draco would say next.
"Just tonight, I witnessed the child perform accidental magic and witnessed as her father punished her brutally for it. I informed the authorities and they have removed the child from the father. Thus brings me back to my request. As this child carries the blood of a Black, it is possible for her to take a place into the House of Black and as her blood uncle, I do have a legal claim to her. I request that the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black allow me to adopt this child and bring her into the House of Black where she can flourish in her strong magic."
Rose struggled to push aside her anger and think. Draco had certainly presented the argument well from a pureblood standpoint. Even though Rose could certainly see places where Draco was either being vague or telling half-truths, Rose was fairly certain that the House would not be able to pick out these instances. Still, it was with a sense of foreboding that Rose repeated Draco's request. She abstained from sending her own response to the request, as she wanted to gauge the House's response first.
Almost instantly after Rose had finished internally dialoguing the request to the House was she bombarded with several vague queries from the House. It seemed that Rose had underestimated its deductive power. Rose spent several long minutes trying to push the House away from the holes that Draco had left in his explanation. The queries eventually stopped and Rose thought for a second that she had given the House enough.
Rose tentatively inquired about whether or not the House was ready to make a decision. Suddenly, Rose felt a sharp pain that she identified as the House tugging forcefully at her magic as well as a resounding Denied.
Rose didn't know how she knew how to argue with the House, but she flared her magic at the House in a questioning challenge. Why?
As if offended at her questioning, the House sent Rose another healthy dose of pain, but it was still far short of anything she had ever experienced. Not enough information.
Rose felt pretty confident that she could argue this point, as so far, the House had yet to show her anything that could be considered pain on her tolerance scale. She sent an opposing challenge to the House. Her message was very clear. I want to accept it.
The young Head of House quickly discovered that she had just underestimated the House Magic a second time as her body suddenly felt like someone had taken a tire iron to several places simultaneously. Absolutely not.
Rose persevered through the increasing pain. Then give me a better reason. House Black currently only has four members. We need all the noble blood we can gather.
This brought a temporary respite from the pain as the House digested this information. Rose decided to press her advantage. What would the House require to accept this request?
There was silence from the House and Rose sat there for several long moments before she recalled how simple minded the House was. It probably couldn't make the terms, only accept or deny and give a vague reason why. She looked up to Draco and Andromeda who were watching her worriedly, which reminded Rose that she was only recently in a lot of pain.
Putting off the thought of her easy dismissal of pain for later contemplation, Rose softly called out for Kreacher and asked the elf for some tea. She turned back to Draco and gave him a small smile before focusing back on the House. It was going to be a long night.
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The sun was just beginning to peek into the sole window of the Grimmauld Place kitchen when Rose finally focused back on the other occupants of the room. Andromeda was valiantly fighting the pull to sleep, but Draco was staring intently at Rose, though he too looked exhausted. Rose certainly wasn't fairing much better, but the seven cups of tea she had consumed over the past few hours had certainly helped.
Rose cleared her throat to get Andromeda's attention and turned herself to look Draco in the eyes as she spoke. Her voice was raspy as if from disuse, though she had not spoken a word in the past few hours.
"Draco Black, your request to adopt your niece and give her admittance into the House of Black cannot be accepted as it stands. However the House and Head have come to an agreement about a counter-proposal. Should you choose, you may adopt your niece under the following two conditions. First, you must either be married prior to the adoption," Draco started as if struck so Rose hurried to continue, "or you must allow either Andromeda or myself co-adopt her." Draco visibly relaxed and raised an eyebrow in question at the young Head, which earned him a smile in response.
"Second, you must raise her in a manner befitting the House of Black. The House and I have agreed that this means you must raise her to understand her standing as a Black, to act in a proper manner befitting a lady of the House, and to understand her position as a member of high society above the common folk. This you must swear upon your magic if the House is to accept her as a member of this Noble House. What say you?"
Draco nodded. "This offer is most gracious. I accept it gratefully."
"Then so ends this meet of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Go forth and bring glory to the House. So mote it be."
Rose threw the House ring she had been clutching clear across the room and let it impact violently against the wall. She laid her head on the hard kitchen table and let out a heavy sigh.
Without raising her head, she called out, "Draco do we have any Pepper Up potions here?"
Draco blinked at the question. "Yes, we've got some. Shall I go get them?"
Rose shook her head on the table. "No. Kreacher can get them. We'll need the energy." She picked her head up and looked tiredly at Draco. "What you can do is tell me what happened."
Draco finally tore his eyes from Rose and stared at the ceiling before he began.
"Three years before I was born, my parents had another son that they named Abraxas after my grandfather. When he was two, they discovered that he had been born without magic and was a squib. I'm sure you guessed that from the request, but he was thrown out of the house for that and sent to live in an orphanage. My parents started trying for another child until they had me. "
"After the war was over, I hunted down Abraxas and spoke to him. I just wanted to make sure he was okay and doing well. He seemed to have inherited Lucius's business sense, because he is doing extremely well for himself, despite starting with absolutely nothing. If I remember correctly, he is heavily invested in the muggle stock markets. When I met with him, he was rather hostile to me and blamed magic for everything that was wrong with his life."
"When McGonagall contacted me, she told me that a Malfoy had shown up on the Hogwarts muggleborn register. So I went to my brother that night and found her. Little Iona Malfoy. Her mother had died in childbirth, although that was probably from domestic abuse. I kept checking up on her every week under a disillusionment charm. I couldn't do anything until last night, when I saw him hitting her. All because she had transfigured one of her little wooden toys into a stuffed dog. I pulled him off of her and went to leave with her when he got a knife from the kitchen and tried to stab me."
Draco gestured to the healed knife wound. "I stunned him and called the aurors and came here straight after they were finished with us and then I called you."
Rose nodded tiredly and rubbed her face. That was exactly what she had expected. "Where is she now?"
"She's technically considered a muggleborn, so they had no choice but to take her to a muggle orphanage. But it's only temporary until a social worker is assigned to her."
"How soon can we adopt her?"
Draco smiled. "Immediately. The goblins can streamline everything for us. They'll even go above the muggles since we have such a strong familial claim."
Rose returned his smile and accepted the potions Kreacher was trying to give her. She handed them to the others. "Drink up. Now that we've taken care of that. There's something I want your help with, especially you, Andy. I've got something I need to do."
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Robes were very fitting for the image of the wizarding world in Rose's opinion. Something about them just screamed power and mystery. It didn't hurt that the wizarding robes were heavily enchanted for comfort and ease of use. Rose had noted a significant change from her school robes to the robes of an everyday witch or wizard. With her robes now, she never got caught on anything or got twisted up in anything. It seemed that any problems you might expect to have from something with so much fabric were nonissues.
Rose marveled at how advanced the wizarding world seemed to be, and yet other times, it seemed like it was so far behind, like many muggleborns had noted when they joined the wizarding world.
Rose loved how muggle clothes looked, but they didn't offer nearly the same level of comfort as robes, unless she enchanted them herself (which made her very happy to have a Charms mastery). When it came to business though, she preferred robes over business suits. They were more impressive, especially the set of robes she wore now.
It was a stroke of luck that Draco had called Rose at the perfect time for what she had planned with Andromeda this morning, but it also meant that Rose didn't have her trunk and by extension, her wardrobe. So Rose had done some digging and found some robes stashed away at the empty Potter Manor, including the dark emerald robes she had on now. With her hair held up in a tight bun that would make her old (and current) Transfiguration professor proud and her determined expression, Rose Potter was a very impressive looking witch.
So just hours after the end of the House Black Meeting, Rose Potter strode into the chamber of the British Wizengamot, ready to make some waves. The circular room was very similar to the courtroom she had sat in years ago, but instead of everyone facing one direction, the Wizengamot members were seated around the entirety of the room, so that they could see everyone else. At the center of the room, where a chair had been in the courtroom, the Wizengamot chamber was bare so that anyone that visited to speak could turn and face everyone as they so desired.
Rose walked directly into the center and waited to be introduced, although the muttering of the members and common sense plainly said it was unnecessary. Andromeda's confident smirk from the Potter seat was noted by many of the members. The Chief Wizengamot turned from where he was looking at the Potter proxy holder and cleared his voice to get everyone's attention.
"Next on the agenda, Lady Rose Potter-Black has asked for an audience of the Wizengamot. Lady Potter-Black, would you like to take your seats up here or stay on the floor?"
Rose thanked Merlin for her teaching days in the DA, because although she was slightly uneasy with speaking in front of this many people, she knew how to and could keep her composure.
"That will not be necessary. I trust Andromeda to handle my seats appropriately. I will remain here. And for simplicity, you may call me Lady Potter. "
"Very well, Lady Potter. You have the floor."
Rose turned around to sweep her eyes over the assembly.
"Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot. At a late hour last night, I received word from my bed in Athens, Greece that the House of Black was in need of an emergency House meeting. I hurried back home to England so I could hold this meeting. You'll hear about the contents of this meeting at a later point, but the specifics are not what I wish to speak of today."
"The meeting ended early this morning, so neither I nor Andromeda have had much sleep. Also, if you recall, historically the House of Black has held contradictory views to what we hold today, so over the course of the meeting, I was subject to the House's… displeasure. This is a common occurrence among our houses here in Britain. I am told houses generally meet once or twice a year for various reasons, but I must ask you, how many of you believe this system is necessary?"
Rose waited for the members to ponder her rhetorical question before she continued.
"Additionally, I wonder if this system is even effective at all. Would you believe me if I told you that through cunning and trickery, House Black accepted a Squib-born witch into the family last night?" Rose thought the widened eyes of several of the members were humorous.
"That is indeed what happened last night. The House was unable to discern the loopholes I had created within the bargains I had created to appease the House. So truly, nothing was accomplished by the House Magic. And that is how it should be. Should you have to argue with a dormant host of older generations about whether or not you have made the correct decision? Do you not see the situation much more clearly than the narrow minded Magicks? Why is your decision for your house questioned? Why are we letting others have a say in the future of our world?"
Muttering spread amongst the assembly as Rose ended her tirade. Rose looked at Andromeda, who was listening into many of the discussion and was pleased when she gave her Head a wink. It seemed the general consensus was with her.
"Lady Potter, a question."
Rose nodded and turned to face the interrupting member as the Chief Warlock announced him.
"Lady Potter cedes the floor to Lord Barlington for a question."
The older gentleman offered a smile to the whole floor before he spoke. "I have long believed the House system to be unnecessary, but I've never seen any possibility to change it. I'm assuming that you come before us with a solution. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are intrigued. May we hear your suggestion?"
Rose frowned for show, "Do you know who holds the information for the creation of Magicks such as the House Magic?" She asked the room in general. "Is it not situated in this very building? Beneath the everyday witch and wizard, lies the Department of Mysteries, where all of our research resides. Could we not go search for a solution there?"
"No. We cannot, can we? The Department of Mysteries is closed to all except the Unspeakables. Does anyone here know what they do on a daily basis? Is their research going in the direction that is helpful to us? Do they answer to anyone? These questions are difficult to answer, my fellow Lords and Ladies, because the Unspeakables are bound by oath to reveal nothing. The last discovery made in that department that was revealed to someone other than the Unspeakables was made by myself several years ago, during the war, when I discovered for myself that the shelves in the Hall of Prophecy are vulnerable to a simple reducto."
Rose spun around and faced the Lord that had posed the question. "My suggestion is not something you might think possible, yet I urge you to consider the possibilities before you dismiss it out of hand. For too long have we accepted the way things are and allowed ourselves to let others rule a part of our lives because it is too dangerous for us."
Rose turned and smiled at the Chief Warlock, "Dare I say it is for our Greater Good that we do not have this information?" She spat out sarcastically and enjoyed the visible recoil many of the members had at the reminder of Grindewald's old motto, the one Dumbledore had eventually renounced.
Rose threw out her hands and raised her voice, "My fellow Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, the time has come for us to control our own lives and push towards a better future, one where our choices are our own and we are not tortured for them! With your support, I propose we desensitize all information contained within and completely dissolve the Department of Mysteries!"
Rose didn't wait for the thunderous applause to end before she waved at the Wizengamot and strode purposefully out of the chambers. As Rose pushed past the few reporters that had shown up after hearing of her arrival, she pulled another Pepper Up potion out of her robes and downed it. Her day still wasn't over.
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After a visit to the Burrow to enlist Molly's help with toddler-proofing Grimmauld Place, Rose met with Draco at Gringotts and signed a plethora of forms for the adoption of Iona Malfoy (soon-to-be-Black).
After Gringotts, Rose went back to Grimmauld Place to sleep while Draco went with a Gringotts employee to collect his new daughter. Rose was just taking off her shoes when a patronus entered the room and the deep voice of the Minister punctured the silence of the house.
"Rose, I need you to come to my office please."
It was so very tempting to ignore Kingsley and just hop into the comfy bed, but she figured she should comply since she had just created a lot of work for him. Rose put her shoes back on and called for Kreacher to bring her another potion as she walked towards the fireplace.
Rose came out of the fireplace in the atrium of the Ministry to a large crowd of people all gathered in small groups and reading newspapers. She strode over to a stack of the papers and grabbed one as she tossed a galleon at the salesman. Rose opened the paper as people began to notice her and was unsurprised to see a Special Edition of the Daily Prophet discussing her speech to the Wizengamot, written by Rita Skeeter. However, she was surprised to see that it was written accurately and without Skeeter's normal slander. Rose just assumed that it was sensational enough.
Rose was still reading when the lift's door closed and began moving to the 1st subfloor, so she missed that everyone in the atrium had stopped reading to watch her.
Rose exited the lift and walked straight past the Minister's poor secretary (because who wants to stop Rose Potter from seeing the Minister?) and into the Minister's office while continuing to read the paper.
"POTTER!"
Startled, Rose dropped the paper to the ground and had her wand at the offending voice's throat before she realized what had happened. She caught herself right before she was able to let off a spell and let her mind catch up to her reflexes. Standing at the tip of her wand was an Unspeakable, clad in the department's iconic black robes complete with hood and charmed to allow no one to see their face. Behind the man were two other Unspeakables wearing identical robes. One had a wand out, but had pointed it at the same man Rose had pointed hers at.
And behind his desk, looking as annoyed as ever, was Kingsley. He hadn't even bothered to pull his wand.
"Lady Potter, please put your wand away. Granger, you too. Burke, for the love of Merlin, don't startle the bloody Defense Mistress unless your goal in life is to become a pile of dragon dung."
Rose dropped her wand back into her holster and turned away from Burke, who she recalled was the current head of the DoM according to Hermione.
"You asked for me, Minister?"
"Yes, Lady Potter. Head Unspeakable Burke would like to speak with you. He says it was very urgent and that I needed to summon you right away. Burke?" Kingsley asked politely.
Burke had managed to regain his composure and seemed to remember who he was speaking to.
"Lady Potter, please you must put a stop to this. There are things that the general public is not ready to understand. The Department of Mysteries has always been the keepers of forbidden knowledge that should never be released. We must exist. You must ask the Wizengamot to overturn their decision."
Rose, as politely as she could, rolled her eyes.
"Burke, listen. I've had a long day, and I'm literally running on Pepper Up right now, so I'll keep this brief. I agree with you. And I don't. Yes, the general public probably doesn't need to have the research on things such as time travel, soul magic, the veil, and so forth. No, we do not need the Department of Mysteries to keep that information from them. Let's slap a sign on that stuff that says Forbidden and put it under lock and key and only get the key out if we need it. We don't need people researching it because if we don't want the public to touch that stuff, then we shouldn't touch it either. It's too tempting."
"But the other stuff? Our notes on House Magic, the Hall of Prophecy, our magical research that is supposed to be happening down there? We need that. We can't move forward without it. We'll stay stuck right where we're at and never improve ourselves. We can't keep those things down there when they are needed up here. Do you understand?"
"But… But…"
"Are you worried about your job? I'm sure Kingsley's not just going to throw you to the street because your department gets shut down. Heck, if you're the sitting head of the DoM when it shuts down, I'm sure you'll be the first name on the list for any departments that might be opening up to replace it, right? It's already happened, Burke. The Wizengamot has voted and the Department of Mysteries will close. Now, we all need is to roll with it and make everything a success. Let's make this a positive, okay?"
Rose imagined Burke looked lost under his hood. He looked over to his colleagues for support.
"Croaker, Granger. Back me up."
Croaker just waved him off. "I'm okay with it. Lady Potter seems to have dispelled any fears I had about it. As long as I can continue my research, I don't care where I do it, or under what name, or if the public sees it or not. Just so long as the truly evil stuff stays where she suggested, under lock and key."
Hermione nodded. "I agree with Lady Potter too. And I think this might help us weed out the ones in the department who don't do any work. We don't have any real oversight in there."
Burke jumped up. "Granger! Don't speak of the department that way in front of others. I know it's possible that there are some less motivated people, but the departments workings aren't to be discussed."
Hermione just shrugged it off. "I'm not breaking my oaths or anything. But my loyalty will always be to Lady Potter first." Rose smiled at that and could have melted steel with the intensity at which she did. "I've stayed with the Ministry because I didn't know of what other opportunities there were. But if we go public with research, I can think of many different possibilities for progress and personally, I don't think I would have any trouble finding satisfying work."
"And honestly," Kingsley interjected, "this might be an opportunity for us to expand our research division. We might be able to bring in more researchers. Give new jobs. All positive things. You need to look at the positives, Burke."
Burke looked at everyone in the office, the hood giving no indication to his mood or thoughts. A sigh escaped him. "I guess I won't be persuading anyone, will I? Very well, Lady Potter. I guess we shall be Unspeakables no more." Burke reached up and lowered his hood to reveal an older man with slightly greying brown hair.
Croaker lowered his hood too and Rose thought he had been in too many experimental accidents. His wrinkled face was marked with several scars that obviously couldn't be healed with magic and his white hair was patchy at best and a complete disaster at worst.
"Well, Croaker. Let's go do damage control in the department. Granger… Take the day off."
Rose watched with a raised eyebrow as the two swept out of the office before she turned back to the Minister with irritation written all over her face.
"Is that really all I was called for?"
Kingsley sighed and slumped into his chair. "Pretty much. Burke was adamant to see you. I'm not sure why."
Hermione spoke up. "He was certain Rose wouldn't have a response if he challenged her in person. He figured Rose was just being a figurehead for a proposal of Andromeda's. He was talking about it before we came up here."
Rose scowled. "That's ridiculous. I just told Andy what I wanted done and she told me how to get there. She even told me how to word it so the Wizengamot would see it as a complete positive."
Kingsley nodded. "And you did a good job. I would've expected you to antagonize or even challenge them. But you put them on your side from the start and kept them there. Even the more… biased Lords were praising your idea."
Hermione strolled over to Rose and gave her a playful shove. "Although it would have been nice to have a little warning. I do work there, you know."
"Speaking of which," Kingsley interjected, "how are you getting around the Unspeakable Oaths? I know there supposed to keep you from speaking about anything that goes on down there. Even the little things."
"I've been wondering that too. You tell me little things about your work all the time. I shouldn't be able to know anything about it. What has that brilliant mind of yours done this time?"
Hermione only blushed a little at Rose's praise. "Well, the first thing I did when I went to the DoM was to research how that Death Eater, Rookwood was able to give Voldemort information about the Department. Well, the oath is phrased so that we can't betray the information, but if our loyalty was to someone else over the department, it's not technically a betrayal. Heck, if Rose hadn't re-asked your question, Kingsley, I wouldn't have been able to answer you. But since she holds my loyalty, I can tell her whatever she asks for."
Rose was amazed. "That's brilliant! A use of logic to outsmart an oath. How in the hell did Rookwood manage that though?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Rose. The man was an idiot. He probably just figured that his Dark Mark let him overcome the oath."
"Well, what about the House Magic? Can we do anything about that yet?"
Hermione's eyebrows narrowed in frustration. "No. Not yet. I've been looking at it, but I want to get Draco's opinion on it once everything gets de-classified. He's a good sounding board. I might talk to Ron about it also. He occasionally catches simple things that I overlook."
Rose yawned. "Speaking of Draco, I should head home. He'll be home soon and I wanted to catch a few hours of sleep before he brought Iona, but I guess I'll just pop another one of these."
Rose pulled another Pepper Up out of her robes and had half of it downed when Hermione pulled it away from her.
"Hey! I was drinking that."
Rose's irritation turned to confusion at Hermione's worried face. "Rose, how many Pepper Up potions have you had this morning?"
At Rose's reply of eight, both Hermione and Kingsley groaned.
"I give her 30 seconds. I'll put 8 galleons on it."
Rose scowled at the Minister, but Hermione cut off any remark.
"It won't be that long, Kingsley. I'm going to borrow this."
Hermione picked up a large goblet that was displayed on a shelf and handed it to Rose, just in time for her to empty the contents of her stomach into it.
Rose looked horrible when she pulled herself from the goblet. "What the hell?" Rose asked weakly.
Hermione was very unimpressed. "You overdosed on Pepper Up. You're only supposed to have five in a day at most. Six if they're made by a competent potions maker like Draco. You have had eight, so I'm going to help you purge the rest of your stomach, and then you'll be in bed until tomorrow afternoon, I assume. Afterwards, you'll be exhausted for the better part of a week while your magic fights off the overdose."
Rose's eyes widened at the implications. "But Iona and Draco. They'll need me."
"I'm sure Draco can hold himself together for a few days while you recuperate. He will have to once you head back to Greece, after all."
"Why would I go back now?"
Hermione would have responded, but Rose looked ready to pass out, so she settled on sighing.
"We'll talk about this later, Rose. Stay awake for a bit so I can get you home."
"You can use my personal floo." Kingsley interjected. "And good luck."
Both girls said their thanks as they went through the fire, although Kingsley was only wishing Hermione luck. The girl would certainly need it.
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Summer 2002
Russia
It had been a long time since dead people made him queasy. It was just part of the job. If you shot enough people, you would eventually learn to deal with death. So the bodies lying on the ground did not bother him one bit.
But there sure were a lot of them.
It didn't deter Clint Barton though. He had a mission to complete and he would see it through. He continued through the compound as silently as he could, stopping every so often to listen around him.
Solo missions were dangerous. More often than not, solo missions involved deep undercover spying operations, covert infiltrations, and other stealth based ops. They weren't Clint's specialty, but he could handle them fairly well. He did work for SHIELD after all. However, today was an exception to that rule. This was an assassination.
SHIELD did a few assassinations a year: mutants gone crazy, geniuses gone mad or in this case,
a rival agent gone rogue.
Rival agents were easy. They had a motivation. They had loyalty. They had morals (some less than others, but still there).
Rogue agents were a whole different game. They were dangerous in their unpredictability, but they were generally handled very quickly by their own organization. SHIELD had its own short history with rogue agents and they were put down quickly and efficiently, or so Barton was told.
But this was a special case in that the agency in question had not handled their own rogue. In fact, the agency was almost completely destroyed by now. And that made SHIELD very antsy, as they didn't know what she would do next.
Would she move on to another agency and eliminate them? Would she move into the civilian population and start killing? Was she mentally stable?
These were questions SHIELD couldn't wait to be answered, so they ordered the assassination of former KGB agent Natalia Romanova, and sent their ace agent after her.
And so here Clint was, following the body trail left by Romanova, bow in hand and quiver on back. It wasn't long before he heard noise in a room up ahead and headed towards it. He peeked into the large double doors and saw a large warehouse-style room that was most likely a storage area for the compound. Large racks lined the walls and boxes filled the floor in the middle. On the opposite end of the room was his target, along with another man tied to a chair.
Clint only spared them a glance before he sprang into action. He snuck quickly into the room, thankful for the faulty light fixtures, and quickly climbed one of the racks to get a bird's eye view. He was in no hurry to take the shot, though. He held no love for the poor bastard in the chair. He might as well let the poor girl have her victory. Barton pulled his bow and nocked an arrow, ready to pull the string and fire in a split second.
Clint Barton waited. And he watched.
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This was so very sweet. This man was meant to be her first target. He really was. But he was a slippery man and she had to bide her time, settling for lesser targets like KGB directors and senior agents. It was certainly worth it though. For this man to be the last member of the KGB that she killed. After spending months of killing members from inside the agency and a few killing them from outside after she was discovered, Natalia was finally ready to end it all and deliver on her promise. A promise she made to a dead friend. Her only friend.
"Are you unwell, Director?"
The man breathed heavily from his chair. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not a director of anything. I'm just an agent. I just take orders."
Natalia gripped the knife buried in the man's thigh and twisted it slowly and savored his screams. He had only recently begun screaming. It had only taken an hour for him to break.
"Oh come now. Of course you're the Director. Do you know why you are the Director?" She applied some pressure to the knife. The man frantically shook his head.
"No. Please stop! I'm begging you to stop! I don't know!"
Natalia let go of the knife and grabbed the man's chin and forced him to look at her.
"You're the Director because there is no one else. You are the last living member of the KGB, Ilyich. You should be proud to have risen through the ranks so quickly. So tell me. How does it feel?"
Natalia finished speaking with her sickly sweat voice and violently moved the knife sideways as if it were a lever. It slid out easily and fell to the floor, but not before it pulled on his muscle and caused him to scream once more.
Natalia waited for him to stop and was disgusted to find him sobbing.
"W… why are you doing this? You didn't torture any of the other agents. Or the directors. Why me?"
Natalia was furious. How dare he cry? He didn't deserve to cry. She punched him. Hard.
"Why you?! I'll tell you why, you bastard! I'll tell you the same damn thing you told me!"
She grabbed the power screwdriver that was nearby and drilled another large screw through his left palm and into the wooden chair arm. That made three screws in that palm and two nails in his other. With those and the chains, he was going nowhere.
"Do you remember what you said Illyich? I remember very clearly."
Natalia's voice was cold and detached as she recited, "Oh, yes…. We made the beautiful girl scream. You see, we don't like when people take our stuff. People that take our stuff get dead. But this hid one of our things from us for quite a while. She was fun to play with. Right up until that last breath. I'd let you go to the funeral, but I don't think it'd be an open casket, not that you'd recognize her anyway."
The tortured agent was frantically trying to plead with her.
"I SWEAR! I SWEAR I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"
His ignorance only fueled Natalia's anger, but she didn't raise her voice.
"How dare you forget her? How dare you forget that beautiful caring woman?"
Natalia pulled her pistol out from her thigh holster and aimed it straight at the man's forehead.
"No… Please don't do this… I beg you…"
She ignored him.
"I'd ask you to pass on a message to her for me, but I'm afraid you're going to a different place than her. I imagine one day, I'll be there with you. I hope we can have more fun when I get there. If I can't be with her, at least I'll have that. Goodbye, Illyich."
"No no no… I'll do anything. Just don…"
A single gunshot and Illyich was dead. Natalia felt empty. Unsatisfied. She lowered the gun to his torso and fired again. And again. And again until the pistol clicked empty. She tossed the pistol to the side and let it slide across the ground.
Natalia pulled her eyes away from the body and walked over to nearby box and sat on the ground against it. She closed her eyes and focused on Rose. Beautiful, wonderful, caring Rose. Tears started flowing down her face as she cried for the first time in years, since she was told of Rose's death.
Uncharacteristically of Natalia, she started talking out loud and voicing her inner thoughts, slipping into Rose's native language as she did so.
"I did it. Are… Are you proud of me? I got them. I got the bastards who killed you. Every last one of them. Please be proud of me."
The tears got heavier as she continued,
"Who am I kidding? You wouldn't have wanted this. You wouldn't have wanted any of this. You weren't like that."
"What would you have done? You would have moved on, wouldn't you? And carried the burden in your heart. I couldn't do that. I needed to do this. I'm not strong like you. I couldn't have moved on without this."
"I bet you would be married by now. Probably to Girgori, the lucky guy. Where would you live? Here or back home? Two point five kids and a white picket fence? Or did you even want that? You told me so much about yourself, but we had so little time together. So little time."
"But I got my revenge. I did it my way. Not yours. And maybe if we're lucky I'll see you again someday."
Natalia's eyes popped open and she rubbed her eyes as she heard a noise, a very faint noise. She turned her head slowly and saw something she didn't know how she felt about. A man, American by the looks of it, was sitting in the racks and had a bow pointed at her. She could move. It wouldn't be too terribly hard, but why should she?
Natalia Romanova closed her eyes and waited.
"At least I got them. For you. "
….
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise! My job's almost done for me!"
Again, Natalia popped her eyes open and looked for the dramatic voice, which was certainly not coming from the American. Standing at the door in his ridiculous outfit was none other than the other person who was killing KGB agents. Deadpool.
Natalia jumped up from the floor and grabbed Illyich's pistol from where she had placed it after she had torn it from him. She was most certainly NOT going to let Deadpool kill her. It was one thing to be killed by an agent. But Deadpool? She certainly didn't want to end up like the people he killed. And maybe she could get that American out of here too. Rose would like that.
"What do you want, Deadpool? I've got the last of them. There's no more. Leave."
Deadpool looked affronted, but she knew it was all one big act for him. A joke.
"Darling, what are you talking about? How do you know what I'm here for? I could be coming along to redecorate the place. Or fix the plumbing. I do take various jobs, you know?"
Natalia narrowed her eyes.
"This isn't a game, Deadpool. I know you were after the KGB, just like me. But they're dead. I just killed the last one."
Deadpool smirked. "Oh, no darling. There's still one more. I'm here for the spider problem."
Deadpool pulled his pistol quickly but didn't get a single shot off before an arrow was lodged in his neck. He stumbled slightly and turned towards the American, pulling out the arrow as he did.
"Hawkie, what a surprise! I've always been a big fan. But I'm kinda busy here."
Deadpool fired his pistol at the American and Natalia shot at Deadpool as the American took cover. She had to jump out of the way quickly as Deadpool unsheathed one of his swords and threw it at her, missing and stabbing straight into Illyich's throat.
"Aww. That's disrespectful. You should've stopped the sword yourself. I mean, come on. He's already dead. Woah! Hawkie, your aim is a little off."
Deadpool exclaimed this as an arrow flew by his head. He pulled his gun up to fire again when a creak behind him made him turn around, just as the opposing rack fell on him and buried him under its contents.
As soon as he had fired the disintegrating arrow that would destabilize the rack, the American had taken off running and jumped along several boxes until he reached ground level and ran towards Natalia. She didn't flinch as he approached, and kept her gun pointed at Deadpool's buried location, but she was surprised when he grabbed her arm and started pulling on her.
"Come on. Let's go. He'll get out of that thing eventually. We can't kill him."
Despite being prepared to die at this agent's hands, Natalia nodded and ran out of the back entrance with the agent. She watched as he called for his extraction and was slightly surprised at how quickly the helicopter showed up. Although by guns pointed at her, she supposed they were his backup if things went wrong.
A man not in combat fatigues stepped forward when the man Deadpool called "Hawkie" stepped in between her and the agents' guns.
"Agent Barton (ah, so that's his name), care to explain yourself."
"Uh. Can this wait? We kinda left Deadpool lying under some boxes and I'd feel more comfortable doing this anywhere else. She's coming with us."
Barton moved forward and whispered something in the man's ear and seemed to convince him. Slightly. Very slightly. He waved the other agents down and stepped up to Natalia.
"Ms Romanova, I'm Agent Coulson of SHIELD. We'd like for you to come with us. But can I have that handgun, please."
Natalia carefully handed Coulson the pistol and stepped forward to get on the helicopter when he gestured her towards it.
"Agent Barton, I hope you know what you're doing, but until we get to base, Ms Romanova is your responsibility, do you understand?" Coulson called out loudly over the noise of the helicopter.
Barton nodded and signaled for Natalia to take a seat next to him. When she had, he leaned over to her and spoke loud enough to where only she could hear him.
"As far as I'm concerned, the specifics of what happened in there can stay between you and me. Alright?"
Natalia looked Barton in the eyes and saw something she hadn't seen in a long time. Compassion. She refused to let anyone get as close to her as Rose had, but Barton was giving her a second chance, it seemed. She realized he could be leading her into a trap, but her instincts told her otherwise. Maybe she could do something She would be proud of.
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Deadpool pushed himself out from under the last box and sighed as his bones cracked back into place and his flesh knit itself back together. He looked around hopefully and smiled under his mask when his favorite Being came into view.
Death materialized in front of Deadpool in her favorite form, the one she had decided she would keep as her Mistress seemed to like it most, with its purple hair and eyes. She sighed as she looked at the mercenary.
"Wilson, what on Earth have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Deadpool stood up off the ground and pulled off his mask, showing his disfigured face. Death did not flinch, for Death did not care. And for that, Deadpool loved Death, even if she did not return his affections.
"Well, hello beautiful. I'm just working to show off how much I love you."
Death looked over at the tortured and dead KGB agent. "What do you mean? That doesn't look like your normal work."
"Well, no. That's not my kill. Mine actually got away. But don't worry. I'll track her down eventually. She's the last KGB agent and all. After this, is there anything I can do for you, my love?"
Death stopped for a moment. Despite her timelessness, she was actually touched. Thanos tried to gain her favor by killing planets mercilessly and slaughtering indiscriminately. Here, Deadpool actually seemed to care for what she wanted. Even though she didn't even like him, it was still sweet.
And curse her Mistress for influencing her (for Death watched over her Mistress and wished to please her), but she wanted him to know how much that meant to her.
She brought a pale hand up to Deadpool's cheek and held him. "Wade, it was sweet of you to listen to what I wanted. I truly do appreciate it. Forget the last agent. My Mistress is safe now and you have made me very happy."
"Hey, you called me Wade!"
Death shot a soft glare at him and he tried to back up. "I mean that's great. I like it. You can call me whatever you want. Are you sure you don't want me to take out the last agent? It wouldn't be any trouble."
Death smiled at him. "No, Wade. Leave her be. Just do as you please. I'm very thankful for what you've done for my Mistress and me. I must leave you now, Wade. Take care of yourself. I know you like to see me, but I know coming this close to me causes you pain. Maybe one day, I'll be able to take that pain away."
Death reached up and put her hand behind Deadpool's head. She pulled Deadpool down to her and placed a soft kiss on his scarred temple. She pulled away and vanished from sight.
Deadpool couldn't keep the goofy smile off this face as he put his mask back on and retrieved his weapons.
"Alright. I think it's time for a vacation. I wonder how Cancun is doing this time of the year. I've been in Russia far too long. I need less bears and more beach! Who knows? Maybe I'll drown and see Death in a swimsuit. Now that's a thought!"
RPA-RPA-RPA-RPA-RPA-RPA
One Month Later
An average size, yet oddly comfortable bed. A dresser. A desk. And room. She actually had room. She looked around her new room in silent and outwardly emotionless wonder.
"Nat? Can I come in?"
"Yeah, come on in Clint."
Her door opened and Clint walked in. "How is it? I know it's not much, but it's better than that piece of shit cell they had you in. It's about time they moved you. Eventually they'll let you off the leash and you can get your own place."
She smiled at him. "It's great, really. It's more room than I've ever had, truthfully. And I'm in no hurry to leave. I've got to prove myself around here. Really, I'm happy."
Anyone would be happy to be doing something other than training with Clint and talking to God knows how many psychiatrists and agents.
"Well, have you decided how you're going to decorate? I can see about getting you a tv or something. You'll probably get a laptop soon. SHIELD's got some pretty good tech. Is there anything you want me to pick up for you?"
She shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine. Thank you, Clint."
"Alright, then. I'll see you tomorrow then. Oh, and they wanted me to give you this."
He handed her a SHIELD badge and she read it.
Natasha Romanoff
Agent
The name she had requested. The one she had given Rose when she had first met her, before she had told Rose her real name. That's who she was.
She called out to Clint as he was about to shut her door behind him.
"Hey, Clint?"
He poked his head back in. "Yeah? What's up?"
"Can you pick me up a small vase and a plastic rose please? I'd want a real one, but I don't want it to die when I'm not here."
"Sure thing, Natasha. First thing tomorrow. See ya."
The next morning she would place that rose on her desk. If she moved, she would take it with her. It would be her only prized possession. A single Rose. That would never die.
A/N: Seriously, I'm super sorry about the wait. If you want to hear my excuse (pathetic as it is), it's the next paragraph. Everything after that is fairly important stuff if you care about plot holes, interesting tidbits about the story and things I'm planning/contemplating for the story.
Alright first, I had some writer's block on starting this chapter. Nothing major, just some brain farts that lasted a few weeks. Then I wrote about a quarter of it. Then it happened again. The damn House Magic bit was painful to write. After that, I wanted to wait for Avengers 2 to come out so I could adjust my story if need be (and I did, so very much. see below). After that, I worked out the changes in my head and was able to write the rest with very short writer's block bits. Now, excuse time over. Pathetic, right? This is not acceptable. But it happened and I'm sorry.
…
Rant time:
Avengers 2: (SPOILERS) I liked it, but it made my brain go crazy for how I wanted to tie it into this story. I had to rethink certain things. I'm sure you'll like it. Or you'll hate me. Either way, my job is accomplished. *insert evil laugh*
Plot Holes: Alright, I am very aware that I am shredding apart storylines and tearing apart the fabric of reality as it stands. I am very aware of the fact that the KGB was dissolved in 1991 in real life. I changed that. Why? It was fun. I try not to do it too often, but sometimes it just makes too much sense to completely change something than to find some convoluted way that things are different. I want Natasha to be younger than Rose instead of being from the 40's, so I made her younger than Rose. For that to happen, she had to be going through her training with someone, and why make something up/change how a real life organization acts when I can just change the KGB's fate? Now instead of dissolving, they're dead. Someone tell Russia they need a new intelligence office. If you have questions about something I tore apart, ask me in reviews or a PM. I'll answer it, I swear. (Unless you review as a guest. Then I still love you, but I won't answer it)
By the way, I finished the end before I finished the bit in the middle. I got to the part in Kingsley's office and got bored. So I wrote something else and came back.
And chapter 7 was supposed to be in chapter 6, but this was already long, so it got split up. The ICW is next. I've also got an Omake written already for chapter 7. Non Avengers related, but it is Marvel Universe. Can you guess what it is? I doubt it.
I hated writing the House Magic bit. But damn, was it necessary. That kind of backwards bullshit that just fits with the old-fashioned ways of the pureblood culture is just what Rose needed to send her in a direction. And I got to give her a little person. That's always fun. But Draco will raise her for the most part, so don't be surprised about that. Rose will be a little busy. You think that's being a shitty parent? You might be right. No one's perfect, and Rose was an abused orphan. She'll do her best.
I hope the whole Wizengamot and politics thing didn't seem forced. But I really didn't want to take that in too much detail. That would be boring. I want you to know what's happening and how, but I don't want to drag on about the details. As long as you know what's happening and have an idea of how, I'm cool.
I hope you liked the re-inclusion of Deadpool and Death. Death will be a fairly consistent character in this story, and I'm going to continue to call the cosmic entity 'her' and 'she' since that's what form she'll be taking. (See the last chapter for that description and remember it!) Deadpool, we probably won't see again. Unless something weird pops up in my head and he fits. And no, Deadpool/Death is not a thing. She really thinks he's weird. But he's sweet to her. Don't you agree? No? Okay. Just me, then. I'm sick and twisted like that.
My brother is beta-ing for me right now. He brought up a few things. If you don't know, Pepper Up Potion is used as a quick boost of energy or to cure common ailments like a cold. And yes, the chapter feels longer than it is, but as he points out, with the direction I want to go, it is bloody necessary.
Alright, this is a long AN. Love you. BYE!