PAST

As the crowd quieted, Tom began to speak, "Friends, thank you for joining us tonight for the Halloween Ball! I know many of you have not been to the castle in many years or had any communication from us. But it is great to see every one of you! There will be dinner and dancing tonight to celebrate the holiday, but first, we have a few announcements before the festivities."

"The first announcement for tonight is after five long years; I would like to announce the new leader of the Roses, my goddaughter, Amelia Thorpe," Tom said, flicking his wand at the figure to the right of him, dropping the hooded robe from the person on his right. Ginny gasped, seeing her for the first time in years since she had disappeared with Harry. She looked so different, she was still beautiful, but she looked colder and more calculating and deadlier. Amy was wearing a floor-length black halter open back dress that exposed her Rose tattoo while her dress's straps were wrapped with silver snakes. Amy's long black-purple hair was tied in a high ponytail with loose strands framing her face drawing more attention to the smokey eye makeup around her cold dark sea blue eyes and the dark blackberry lipstick. Ginny noticed that she had gained multiple new scars on the beige flesh exposed by the dress.

Tom continued breaking Ginny out of her trance, "I would also like to announce her new Co-leader of the Roses, Korvin Snape."

PRESENT

The whole room gasped as the hood and cloak dropped from the figure on Tom's left side. There stood what everyone had previously known as Harry Potter standing in front of them. However, Harry was no longer the same boy that the world had last seen. He no longer wore the glasses he had worn beforehand, allowing his emerald green eyes to shine brightly through the long black hair covering his eyes. Although everyone around him was wearing exquisite suits and tuxedos, Korvin had opted to wear a pair of simple black slacks with a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing his tattooed forearms. Even in just the pair of pants and the dress shirt, he still looked as striking as the rest of the men dressed in much more unique clothing in the ballroom.

But something was very different about him from the last time Ginny had seen him in school. Korvin had a dark aura surrounding him that seemed to drench him in shadows, even in the brightly lit ballroom. It was almost like the shadows surrounding him were living.

"If there are any Roses that disagree with this choice, speak now," Tom announced as Amy looked around the silent crowd daring one of them to speak.

As no one spoke up, Tom stepped back from between Korvin and Amy and instructed the crowd to stand as he presented both Korvin and Amy as the new unchallenged leaders of the Roses to the room. The crowd stood up from their chairs, moving towards the edge of the dancefloor clapping for both of them.

Amy reached over and grabbed Korvin's hand in hers and smiled at Korvin. Korvin instantly held her hand tightly, the shadows dissipating away from him, and returned a heart-melting smile before they both turned back to face the crowd. As Amy turned around to face the masses, Amy's eyes immediately connected with Ginny's, and she saw so much pain in Ginny's eyes and saw her staring directly at her and Korvin. Amy quickly looked away, smiling at the rest of the crowd. In the crowd, she quickly identified everyone from the Roses at Hogwarts and their parents. But there was one person she didn't see, Draco. Once the crowd had stopped cheering, Tom cleared his throat, drawing the now-silent crowd's attention back to himself.

"Finally, that brings us to our final announcement of the night before the festivities. I do not have any blood relatives or an heir to the Death Eaters and the Roses, as many of you know. At this time, I have named my heir to the Death Eaters and the Roses." Tom began stepping up to be closer to Amelia and Korvin, "Amelia has proven herself over the last few years. She has led many missions that many others would not have returned. However, every mission, Amelia returned successfully with no casualties in her team. She has proven to be very powerful and capable of every task that I have assigned her. Amelia may not be directly blood-related to me. However, she is my family, and the best goddaughter a godfather could ask for." Tom beamed with pride at the girl beside him.

"Is there anyone who disagrees or would challenge Amy being my heir?" Tom questioned the silent room.

"I disagree and challenge Amy." An older man croaked from the other side of the room, pushing to the dance floor's front. People in the room began to whisper about the man as he made it to the front of the dance floor. He was the same man that had been taking names at the first door Ginny remembered.

"Avada Kedavra." The green light flew across the room, striking the man in the chest. As his body absorbed the curse's light, the light left his eyes, and his dirty and beaten body crumpled to the pristine floor. Once his body hit the ground, it began disintegrating into dust. Simultaneously, one of the house-elves appeared and started to clean up the mess before quickly disappearing again.

Ginny whipped her head to the stage to see that Amy was no longer smiling or holding Korvin's hand; instead, her wand in her hand pointed towards where the man had just been standing, and she had a cold expression on her face, and her eyes were glowing purple crackling with anger. Ginny, surprised by Amy killing that man, looked at Tom and Korvin, and neither appeared to be phased by her killing that man. Korvin even had a slight smirk on his face.

"Anyone else?" Tom asked, arching an eyebrow while surveying the now silent room staring at his goddaughter, causing Tom to smirk with pride.

As no one else spoke up, Tom started again, "With that, Amelia, will be my heiress and take over should anything happen to me." Tom announced.

Amy slipped her wand back into the wand holster strapped to her thigh exposed by a long slit up the side of her dress. At the same time, one of the silver snakes wrapped around the straps of her dress animated. The little silver snake unwrapped itself from her dress's halter and slithered down her arm, stopping at her hand and sunk its fangs into her hand. Ginny watched as Amy closed her glowing purple eyes for what felt like a minute before reopening her eyes to reveal dark sea blue eyes again. As she opened her eyes again, the snake removed its fangs from her hand and began to move back up her arm, stopping at her dress's straps, wrapping itself around the halter strap.

"Kneel," Tom instructed Amy, who immediately knelt in front of her godfather. "Your hand, please."

Amy extended her hand, which was grabbed by her godfather. He grabbed his wand from its holster and touched the cold wand to her skin. There was a bright light that emitted from the wand as he muttered a spell. Amy felt no pain from the spell as the light died down. Amy looked up at her arm and could see a green and silver snake inside her skin like a tattoo slithering up her arm. The green and silver snake moved up her arm and across her shoulders down to her other arm. Amy could feel her godfather's magic in the snake tattoo as it moved from one arm to the other, moving down her arm and moving back up before she felt the magic settling at the base of her neck.

"Please rise," Tom instructed as the snake tattoo settled, "Please welcome your new heiress and Dark Lady of the Death Eaters and Roses." The crowd erupted in cheers through the ballroom.

"Let the festivities begin," Tom beamed. At that same moment, the band reappeared, and music began to play as Tom walked off the stage.

Amy and Korvin followed him off the stage, but once they were off the stage, Korvin extended his hand to Amy, smirking, "Would you like to dance Dark Lady?"

Amy chuckled, grabbing his hand, "Sure," letting him lead her towards the dance floor.

Ginny watched as the Death Eaters standing at the edge of the stage created a tight circle around Amy and Korvin blocking other people from getting close to them as they headed to the dance floor. As they reached the dance floor center, Korvin spun Amy towards him, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other holding onto her hand as he began to lead her around the room, swaying them to the music being played. The Death Eaters that had followed them to the dance floor broke into four different pairs and began dancing around the couple in the room's center, watching every angle—but still giving the couple enough space to dance without allowing other people close to them. Slowly other couples began to make their way to the dance floor, but none were brave enough to get close to the five couples in the middle of the dance floor. Ginny looked to Blaise, who offered his hand to her, leading them out to the dance floor. Blaise tried to get Ginny close to them, but they were still far away. Ginny watched the couple from afar who only looked to be interested in each other as they spun around the room. From where Ginny and Blaise were located, Ginny was able to see the rest of the Roses all scattered around the edges watching Amy and Korvin.

Little did they know, but Amy watched them and remembered the last time she had seen them all. At their graduation.

Flashback

After many months away from the castle, it still looked the same to Amy. Amy watched from the Forbidden Forest the wind rustling the leaves and blowing stray pieces of hair from her high ponytail into her face. She could make out the graduation ceremony location in front of the great lake, hidden behind bushes at the forest's edge. At the lake's edge was a large podium that stood in front of rows of empty chairs. As she was far away from the podium, she cast an amplifying spell on herself that would allow her to hear the graduation ceremony from where she was in the forest. She knew she shouldn't be here, especially alone, but it felt like she was drawn to the grounds to watch her friends and family's graduation. Even from where she was located in the forest, she could still pick out everyone as they began to walk out onto the grounds to be seated before the ceremony. Amy's breath caught in her throat as she saw her first glance at Draco since she had left. He looked like a wreck, and, at the same time, he didn't look like the person she remembered. He had stubble growing on his face, his hair hung messily over his face, and looked troubled with dark circles underneath his eyes. His black dress robes weren't pressed and were wrinkled, his black shoes were caked with mud and weren't polished, and his tie wasn't even tied correctly. He no longer looked like the confident man she knew. As she thought that, he looked up, his eyes connecting with hers. Immediately his face changed. His face looked so hopeful. Amy's eyes widened as she ducked behind the closest tree entirely out of view.

"Amy?" She could hear from Draco. Amy whispered a spell underneath her breath, allowing her to see through the tree but not allowing others to see her through it.

"Amy? What are you talking about, Draco?" Blaise asked, grabbing his friend's arm.

"I saw Amy in the forest, right over there," Draco announced, pointing towards the bush, trying to move towards the forest. Amy held her breath.

Blaise held him still looking at the forest before sighing, "Draco, I think your eyes are tricking you again. Amy's not standing in the forest. Look."

Draco stopped trying to move and stared in the forest before his face fell again and hesitated before responding sadly, "Oh, your right."

"Come on, mate. Let's go get our seats for the graduation ceremony." Blaise proposed, straightening his black dress robes flattening the robes to remove the imaginary wrinkle, as Ginny began walking towards them. Ginny was wearing the dark green dress robes she had picked out and had her Mom send to her as a gift for the graduation ceremony. She looked stunning in them with her red hair in an exquisite updo.

"Everything okay?" Ginny asked, looking at Draco, who was now staring at his feet.

"Yeah, we were waiting for you. Shall we?" Blaise motioned towards the chairs. Ginny slowly nodded before beginning to walk over to the chairs. Blaise followed close behind her as Draco trailed behind them, stealing another glance towards the forest looking at the tree Amy was hiding behind. Slowly realizing no one was in the woods, Draco began to follow Blaise. Amy let out the breath she didn't know she was still holding. She watched sadly as he slowly walked away. Before she could stop herself, she was whispering another spell that flew straight towards the boy. In an instant, his hair was combed back out of his face, the stubble on his face was gone, his robes were no longer wrinkled, his black shoes were no longer caked in mud and were polished, and his tie had re-tied itself correctly. Feeling the magic wash over him, Draco looked up in shock to see Blaise and Ginny still walking in front of him, and both of their wands were still in their holster. Draco looked down at his robe to see it was now pressed and his shoes were polished. He lifted a hand to his face touching his now bare cheek before raising his hand to his combed hair. Turning around, Draco stared at the same tree in shock before smiling softly. Even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see, Amy smiled back.

"Draco, come on!" Ginny yelled from the chairs. Still not seeing anything in the forest, Draco turned around, confused, and began walking towards Ginny and Blaise.

"You shouldn't have come here alone." A deep voice growled beside her.

Amy jumped, turning around to see Korvin standing behind her. He looked furious.

"You promised that you wouldn't come here. Then I wake up, and you're gone, and no one knows where you are. Vladimir was panicking, running around the castle, trying to find you. When I finally found you, you almost blew your cover. If I hadn't cast a spell on Draco, he would have run into the woods to find you." Korvin sighed frustratedly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I thought you wanted to cut off contact with them?" Korvin questioned, brushing a stray leaf out of her hair.

"I do. But... I...didn't know...he...I..." Amy stuttered, a tear falling from her eye, rolling down her cheek.

Korvin wrapped her in a hug as she began to cry, "Shhh. It will be alright."

Korvin held her as she cried, and the remaining students began to filter into the chairs. Once all the chairs were filled, Korvin pulled out of the hug and wiped her tears.

"Now, let's watch your friend's graduation ceremony," Korvin announced as Dumbledore walked up to the podium.

"Settle down," Dumbledore started, "Good afternoon to you, the Seventh Year. I am honored and proud to be speaking to every one of you. I remember like it was yesterday when you first crossed this very lake to be sorted into your houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. It has indeed been an honor to be your headmaster and mentor during your time here, and it has been remarkable to watch you grow into the witches and wizards you are today. I am so proud of your many accomplishments from your time here that enabled you to complete your studies to get your OWLS and NEWTS. I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness that every one of you is graduating as it is an enormous accomplishment. While it may be the end of your story at Hogwarts, I know every one of you will have a magnificent journey in front of you, and if you ever need it, Hogwarts will always be open to you. Now without further ado, let the ceremony begin!" With that, Dumbledore flicked his wand, and a list appeared in his hand. Clearing his throat, he began reading off the names.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

Hannah stood from her chair and walked up to the podium. Once she reached the headmaster, he shook her hand and gave her a scroll. After receiving the scroll, Hannah then returned to her chair. This process continued for every seventh-year student. Amy watched as Millicent, Vince, Greg, and Erlina walked up to the headmaster to receive their diploma.

"Malfoy, Draco!" Amy stopped breathing as she watched Draco stand up and walk to the podium to shake the headmaster's hand and receive his diploma. As he reached his seat again, he looked into the forest, confused before refocusing on the ceremony once again. Amy released the breath she was holding as she watched the rest of her friends Theo, Pansy, Blade, Priscilla, Ginny, Ron, and finally, Blaise received their diplomas.

"That brings us to the conclusion of the graduation ceremony for this seventh-year class. I want to announce our newest class of Hogwarts graduates! Congratulations!" Dumbledore concluded.

End Flashback

"Amy?" Korvin questioned, looking down at the girl staring at the wall behind them.

"Hmm?" Amy hummed, looking up into his bright green eyes.

"What were you thinking about?" Korvin asked gently while spinning them around.

"The last time that I saw them all," Amy responded quiet enough for only Korvin to hear.

Korvin nodded, understanding.

As the song got close to ending, suddenly, Amy let out a laugh that filled the whole room as Korvin twirled her around before bringing her close to him again, dipping her, and slowly bringing her back up. Once the song ended, the couples all separated, clapping for the band. On the other side of the ballroom, another Death Eater gestured to their entourage, who nodded at Korvin.

Korvin pulled her close, whispering in her ear, "We should go."

Amy looked to the other side of the ballroom seeing the Death Eater standing there, nodding, "Okay," Amy agreed.

Korvin extended his hand to Amy, who immediately grabbed it and allowed him to start leading her off the dancefloor. As they began walking, the eight Death Eaters that were surrounding them as they danced now flanked them on every side, clearing the crowd in front of them. The crowd of people on the dance floor in front of them cleared like the sea giving them a wide walkway to exit the ballroom.

"Amy, wait!" Ginny yelled, running towards the group, away from Blaise, trying to catch up to the group, but they just continued walking.

"Amy, please!" Ginny cried, tripping on her dress, falling on the floor. Blaise quickly was at her side, helping her to her feet.

"Amy!" A deep voice bellowed that stopped Amy in her tracks. The whole entourage surrounding Amy stopped, and Korvin released her hand, turning to look at the source of the voice. The entire ballroom had gone silent. Amy closed her eyes; she hadn't heard that voice in 5 years.