Disclaimer: No money is being made or received for this work in her playground of characters.
Author's Note: I have sent this to Eliza for her okay, but she hasn't given it yet. Any mistakes are mine alone (damnit).
Entering the Final Battle…
A still bloody, filthy, bruised woman entered the room following that crash. Rowan stood and with her one non-swollen eye, surveyed the scene before her. She could feel her daughter's anger and fed off the emotions in the room, drawing in the youth's indignation and wrapping her magic in it like a cloak. She eyed the adults before looking to the group of teenagers who had to defend themselves, yet again, from the idiots of the world. The teenagers felt an immediate reduction in their tension, while the adults' exasperation rose exponentially. As she neared the two groups, the stench from her wounds and filth made many want to wretch.
"What do you want with my children?" She asked.
Draco looked in surprise as his parents followed her into the room; meeting their eyes for the briefest of moments, and seeing pure fury stared back at him. Rowan's mouth moved very little as she spoke to the crowd, her voice only giving the barest hint of the indignation she felt, but her words were filled with bitterness and hatred. The anger poured from her person as she looked to him.
"How dare you allow this Albus. An interview? What do these people need with an interview? Do they want to know the secrets of old used to restore balance to the wizarding world? Let them do their own research and find it. Let them seek their own liaisons with the Lycans, Vampires, Slayers, and Researchers. It is of no concern to them where we found the information." The room was alight with her magic as it poured out with her anger.
The line of teenagers took a step back from the woman; as she passed, each gagged slightly at the smell of her. Rowan did not notice, her teeth clenched as she hissed her questions, "Do these idiot adults want to show the world at large that they are more powerful than the group before them? Good Luck," she answered her own question before continuing, "I will not allow these children to be sucked into any more power games. Their lives have been manipulated for the good of this world. The weight of which becomes quite heavy when children are the only ones to bear it."
Lucius moved beside Rowan; Draco did a double take when he realized that his father was actually addressing the crowd, "You all know me?" Most of the adults nodded without words, "I have been gone for a while…regaining myself, in an attempt to understand why I could have ever gone so far to the other side. My wife and I are in agreement that part of the problem is that there are people in the world that believe that they are better than others either because of breeding or because of position or age."
"None of these beliefs are acceptable any more." Narcissa added savagely. "I almost killed my only son because he fell in love with a Muggle. Little did I know she would end up saving him and our world many times over." Her eyes met her son's. He was in shock at her words as he reached for Madison's hand. "You will not continue to speak to my son or the others as though they were incapable of making the right decisions. They have done what none of you were willing to do. They have brought balance back to our world."
The three adults continued advancing on the group of adult witches and wizards, come to rest as they situated themselves between them and their children. Rowan spoke again, the voice of forced calm that did not extend to her body language, "It is over. Right now, you have told them what they needed to know. Whether you like it or not, after this meeting, I am taking them away for no less than a year. There will be no interviews until they are ready. You will not interfere with their recovery in any way. They deserve time to deal with all they have learned and been forced to do.
"They will be the ones to decide when that time is," Lucius nodded his agreement, as did Minerva and Hagrid, "you all have given whatever information they needed and now you will leave this place. You can tell your 'subjects' whatever you choose;" adding through clenched teeth, "but you will be kind or I will personally seek you out when we return. I will be sure you personally face whatever negative light you allow to be shown on these children."
She turned to the line of teenagers. With a nod of her head, she motioned for the teenagers to leave the room; having let them hear her ultimatums to the adults in the room. They did so without question or a backwards glance at the woman who was obviously too fed up to deal with any more bureaucracy. The members of the DA followed, removing all teenagers from the room.
The American Minister took a tentative step forward to the three late comers. "Hello, I am Jeb Bush, the American Minister of Magic," her eyes narrowed dangerously as he took another step towards her. She didn't flinch, but Michael saw her stance change from one of offense to one of defense. He pulled the others a step or two away from her as the other American spoke, "I would like to know where they learned the magic that they used. Is that something you helped them with?" Rowan nodded her head, "Will you tell us who else helped them?" Rowan shook her head no.
The French minister stepped forward "Madame? Could perhaps you tell us what we need to know rather than the children being forced to journey from country to country to give witness?"
"Be careful. Do not misunderstand my words. You will have to deal with me personally before you will be allowed to force any of them to do anything," she replied carefully.
After they had asked several more dangerous questions, the air began to crackle around her. Buffy, Faith, Michael, Angel, Erika, and Selene were joined by Lucius and Narcissa when they walked resolutely out of the room.
Dumbledore stood and walked nearer the woman. "Rowan, please calm yourself."
She had the look of a crazed wounded animal as she looked toward the man whom she respected before walking in on this meeting. "Calm? How dare you. You allowed these… these… so called people to come to this estate and upset my children. You did nothing to prevent their questions or control the situation. My daughter was already angry when I walked in. Calm? I am calm Albus. But I will not remain so for long, I assure you."
The African Minister sent a stunning spell at her. With a casual flick of her wrist, it changed course and hit the Australian Minister, Lanis. Her eyes narrowed at the dark man before her. He moved out of her line of vision. "Do not do that again."
Taking a deep, painful breath, her personality flipped again, as she said almost politely, "If you could give me a moment, perhaps everyone sit and allow me to compose myself." Her personality returned to the insanity of moments prior when she added, "While I am gone, do not approach my children. Do we understand?" She walked into the dining hall. Dobby stood, holding a large mug of coffee. After she took it from him, she thanked him. She had not slept much or eaten well since she left the hospital wing; how ever long ago that was now. The coffee was good.
She heard mutterings of 'lunatic' and 'mad woman' and 'tigress', followed by 'you can't allow them to go anywhere with her!' from the other room. Using every ounce of effort she possessed, she calmed herself. Giles walked in a moment later and asked if he could do anything. A look from her told him no, and he left to find the smarter group who had left earlier.
When she returned to the sitting room with her second cup of coffee, she had not changed in appearance, except that her eyes were no longer glowing orange. Sitting in the seat which Harry had occupied earlier, and looked to the crowd, her words were gave the hint of a forced, albeit exhausted, calm, "Honestly, I am not a lunatic all the time. I am not a mad woman in the sense that I am always insane. I am a tigress when it comes to my children. Two of whom I gave birth to, one to whom I am Godmother and the other four I consider mine. I will not allow you to badger them for answers that are none of your business. They sought answers to questions that they asked themselves. Once they answered the questions, they had the powers to complete the task set before them."
She sipped her coffee, "You should all go home now. Give whatever interviews you choose, be careful, my threat earlier was not made in passing. As for you Jeb, I voted for your brother in the last election. I can only hope your magic population follows you with as much confidence as the muggles follow George. Reaching to her back pocket, she pulled out a piece of paper and read to the group, most of whom were still standing, and read:
"The official statement from the youths is this:
'Our world has been wrought with darkness. In order to preserve any light remaining, we found a kinship of family, united to save what was left of our magic brethren. We would have gladly sacrificed ourselves to make it all go away for a while. However, that was not needed, and the evil that covered our world has now been extinguished. Because of the intensity of our training for the Great Battle, we ask that or the next year or so, we will not be in touch with anyone but each other.
We need this time to deal with all we have learned, seen and been forced to do. We need time to be kids at last, instead of saviors. Please allow us this time. If you see us, do not approach us. Let us enjoy being out of the spotlight for the first time. Upon our return to the Ministry of Magic in London in approximately one year's time, we will hold a press conference for any who wish to ask us questions. Until that time, please heal your families and friendships. Rebuild your personal lives as we are.'
"Did everyone get that?" she asked the crowd while waving her right hand casually. "If you look in your pockets, you each have a parchment message repeating what I have said. Remember ladies and gentlemen, one year of peace for these kids. They deserve it. But I will be watching. Tell your papers and reporters not to portray these kids in any negative light, or you will find out what kind of a tigress I can be. Good Evening."
With that dismissal, the assembled guests quickly left the room. There was still some question about if they should be allowed to go with a woman who was so obviously insane, but nothing came of it. Remus fought the urge to sweep her into his arms, while Hagrid, Albus, Mad-Eye, and Minerva remained. Sighing Rowan took another drink of her coffee.
Peace...finally…
In a seemingly rare moment of clarity, she tried to explain that the Malfoys' had their memories restored in small increments over the past few days. Her theory being that if given the opportunity to figure out where they had gone so wrong; then at that epiphany, she could restore the remaining memories and be able to sort through the rest. She had restored the remainder of their memories and they had talked for the past few days, one on one, trying to deal with the guilt that they both carried around with them like cloaks in winter. She felt that she owed Draco this and was sure that the kids would need someone around that the world could be afraid of to take care of them. Most of that decision coming from the belief that she would not survive injuries she had sustained and needed to have someone she trusted to deal with the outside world. Who better than someone the world already feared? Lucius and Narcissa entered a few minutes after the explanation to odd looks from the crowd.
She rose and turned to leave the room; wanting to just see her children. Before she could carry herself any farther, she felt herself falling backwards into two arms. Remus caught her and swept her out of the room and into the Hospital Wing. The Medi-elf pointed to a bed and asked the giant to leave so she could tend to the wounds of her charge properly this time. Dumbledore gave his thanks to the 'honored guests,' assured them that they would know all as he did and suggested that they allow him to return them to their proper homes. They agreed and within the hour, everyone was gone from the castle that should have been.
It was only then that Dumbledore admitted that Dobby had put a potent calming draught in her coffee and he was surprised she had lasted as long as she had. This information was met with smirks from the remaining adults.
