TONY STARK'S POV
It's startling to understand every range of emotion displayed by Persephone in the memory. At first, he had been surprised by the rare moment of vulnerability - after seeing a child battling her archenemy, getting rid of a murderous snake, save a convict from a death sentence, battle a dragon and merpeople and running away from a deathly battle. That's not withstanding the skill to infiltrate a government building twice and finding shelter in the woods. But it took him a minute to finally understand that's probably her first visit to her parent's grave and the information was enough to dampen his mood at the prospect of meeting her.
The Dursleys had lied to her her whole life about her origins and her parents' demise whereas the adults supposed to protect her deemed it better to hide some aspects of her own existence so as to not endanger her. Godric's Hollow must be the very first place where Death Eaters and a dangerous Dark Lord might venture if they were ever planning on catching the Girl-Who-Lived vulnerable. At this rate, he does not know if she is very skilled or has just inherited a wicked sense of luck. It was impossible to be involved in as many catastrophes and leave relatively unscathed most of the time. He could only applaud her resilience : it reminded him of his own change when he came back from Afghanistan. She might not have the exact same haunted look but it was probably because her life had never been easy to start with. After the life she had with her relatives, she would look for a refuge anywhere and would fight to the death to protect, which was what Dumbledore must have been gunning for all this time. It's certainly easier to turn Persephone into a puppet if she felt like she owed her happiness to her Headmaster and Hogwarts. But he had not taken Rita Skeeter into account - or the multitude of the stories that would come back to haunt his memories and trash upon his lessons once he left the world of the living. He had lived too long and had been given too much power by his peers : it had enabled him to use others as mere pawns without thinking of the circumstances. Aside from Persephone and even Tom, how many other souls had wandered into the same school and had been roped into the seemingly innocent web of lies and deceit that was Albus Dumbledore?
The Potter cottage is in rubles and Percy can barely contain her tears at the sight. The two girls followed Bagshot, a famous historian, so she could share more tales about their departed Headmaster and his youth. In an unexpected turn of events, the two girls get attacked by Voldemort's snake and Persephone loses her precious wand. (And even though the team around him looks at the scene nonplussed and with a bit of pity, Tony understands she has lost far more than a piece of wood. Just like JARVIS, the wand had her own form of sentience and has protected its owner at the best of its capability throughout the years. Even if it had to battle its own twin, never had the wand wavered in its support. Just the thought of losing his precious AI is too much to bear for the moment so he just silently mourns the beautifully carved wood while remembering Persephone's face when she had been chosen by the holly wand for the first time. Even Ollivander's speech afterwards had not been enough to make her nervous or second guess her choice - and Hedwig's presence had done the rest of the work. Now, she has lost both objects that symbolizes her entry to the Wizarding World.) More shocking truths are shared about Dumbledore - who had a darker past that anyone expected from him, even with his multiple deceptions. It's particularly hard to see the witches lose their grasp on the situation and slip into a sort of depression until Percy finds the sword she needs to destroy the Horcruxes. After following a familiar Patronus, she jumps into the water to retrieve it before being almost choked to death by the Slytherin locket before Ron came to her rescue. The use of Parseltongue was enough to open it - and display everyone of the Weasley's insecurities for the world to see, but nothing is better than Hermione's reaction when she notices their third member is back on the fold.
Their research takes them to an extravagant Xenophilius Lovegood who shares the Tale of the Three Brothers which is also the legend behind the Deathly Hallows. The narrative is centered around three brothers who encounter Death on their journey late one night. They are each given a prize from Death because they were spared by him earlier by not drowning in a dangerous river. The first sibling requests a wand that will always win duels and allow the owner to escape death without difficulty. Without question, Death grants it to him. The second brother requests something that will allow him to recall the deceased. Death picks up a stone and informs the second brother that it now possesses the ability to resurrect the dead. The third brother requests something that will allow him to avoid death. Death grants the third brother his invisibility cloak. Xenophilius informs the three of them that the three objects, the wand, the stone, and the cloak, comprise the Deathly Hallows. Whoever possesses all three will have total control over death. Xenophilius also informs them that the Invisibility Cloak is not common, but one that will conceal the wearer for all eternity and not fade with time like most other cloaks. The wand, called the Elder Wand, is also extremely important, but no one knows where it is actually located. (Every detail sounds important - and it's not just Fury's expression that cements his decisions to remember each word of this story, but Thor's reaction to a supposed children's tale is enough to raise his suspicions. Before this morning, he would have opposed every theory of the occult, but things tend to change after meeting Norse Gods and learning your soulmate is a powerful witch from another dimension that she left for some reason whatsoever to come live here.) After noticing some concerning details, the teenagers flee the trap from the Death Eaters and a reluctant Xenophilius - but his intel had been precious either way. (It's agonizing to see her trying to convince her best friends of the importance of the Deathly Hallows - because he knows how it feels to be doubted at every turn even though you have a strange sense of foreboding and surety that guides your choices. Fury had also called her by her unique moniker, the Mistress of Death, so it's only fair to deduce she had mastered the three objects. But still, three objects scattered around the world because of wizards and witches greed ? Voldemort is an imminent threat and too many people have lost their lives while looking for just one of the relics.)
The capture of the Golden Trio is swift, but they did not expect Persephone to change her appearance to match Hermione's. From what they had understood, not many people were aware of her ability to shape shift which would have been enough to hide her identity as the most sought after fugitive of their community at the time. Even though the team was used to violence, it's not easy to watch two teenage girls being tortured by unknown magic and rabid Death Eaters. Draco protects them from the arrival of Voldemort while protesting about their identity - but it's only Dobby's intervention that saves them from his wrath. They have to watch Persephone bury him with her own hands while bleeding on the beach, not listening to her friend's cry of concerns. (Dobby was her friend and always sought to protect her from the first moment they met. Tony thinks that the house elf would have been proud of his demise : a hero's death while making fun of pureblood's superiority. A "creature" they never gave any respect for infiltrated their own home and stole the most important prisoners they could have hoped for.) As usual, Hermione saves the day and produces a hair from Bellatrix's head and shares their new plan to rob the most protected building in the world as of the time. (Tony almost regrets his lack of popcorn because if there is something he wants to see, it's his soulmate turning into Glinda's version of Bonnie. Without the murder part. And the green skin with warts and a big nose.)
The whole ordeal is chaotic but the team got used to the luck the Golden Trio had - and they all applaud when they see them escape in the back of a dragon, even though they had lost their precious blade. After a vision from Voldemort, Persephone tells them they have to travel to Hogwarts, since he had hidden one of his Horcruxes within the school. The reunion between the fugitives and the students is wrenching but the resistance is thriving. Young minds are garnered and stay united to fight against oppression, however strong and violent it might be. (It's ironic to think that they are literally saddled by the mistakes made by their parents and grandparents, either by complacency or by direct involvement. Either way, they were paying the price for something that should never have affected them in the first place. To many, Hogwarts was their own and sanctuary - to see it used for nefarious purposes must hurt their spirit more than they shared.) Persephone searches for the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw to destroy it but gets caught - Voldemort has been notified of her presence within school grounds. The professors on their side start to protect the castle and a duel starts between Snape and McGonagall while Percy joins the Order and some of her schoolmates. They were all tired and worn out, like the fighting had been going around for months and not about to start in a few moments.
She finally finds the Diadem - but gets attacked by Goyle, Crabbe and Malfoy while getting rescued by Hermione and Ron who had already destroyed the Cup. Out of the six that entered the Room, only five left while the fire was blazing and destroying everything in its path. (He does not think he would have been able to save his enemy from the fire. Tony knew how to hold a grudge and if someone had actively been trying to sabotage his life and had worked closely for a terrorist organisation, he would not have risked anything for their own survival. But after all, before being mortal enemies, they had all been students at the same school who had shared most of the same classes and interests.) The fighting is still going on and many are dead - but she does not give herself the time to grieve for her lost friends and mentors. Persephone joins Snape and Voldemort and learns more about the Elder Wand and ultimately learns more about her parents and their relation with her former Potions professor. But nothing compares to Dumbledore's treason and deceits.
So the girl…must die?
And Voldemort himself must do it. That is essential.
I thought…all these years…that we were protecting her for her. For Lily.
The connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth: Sometimes I have thought she suspects it herself. If I know her, she will have arranged matters so that when she does set out to meet her death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort.
You have kept her alive so that she can die at the right moment?
Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die ?
Lately, only those whom I could not save. You have used me. I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's daughter safe. Now you tell me you have been raising her like a pig for slaughter…
The realization that her whole life had been planned so she would die at the last moment breaks something in her - and she trashes the room. Persephone has no real tether to this life aside from her two best friends and her little Luna. She has no romance going on, no family that would miss her, no real home that she had settled into, nothing aside from her identity as the Girl-Who-Lived and her escapades. One day, Voldemort will be distant history and she will only be a footnote compared to his atrocities. The girl born under a prophecy that had loomed over her head her whole life without any input from her. At this exact moment, it's easier to hate Dumbledore who she had trusted more than anything rather than the monster who had been chasing her his whole life. After all, his plan had world domination before she was born and her destiny was to die. She had to die so others could live. Her sole reason for existing from the moment she had taken her first breath was to save the world from Voldemort's wrath - and every person that had tried to stand between him and her had ended up dead. She did not know what to do or to believe now - but her own beliefs and sense of identity had been obliterated by Snape's confession. The fact that he had been in love with her mother and sought to protect her meant nothing to her. He was still the same asshole that had hurt her for six years straight and who had done his best to put Sirius down when he was still alive.
He had sold his soul. Twice. First, by joining Voldemort and his merry band of killers and psychopaths and second when he decided Dumbledore was worth his misericorde. Instead of taking care of the last living remnants of his best friend and first love, he had decided to hate her because she looked too much like her father. But she doubted that. HE wanted her to hate him - because it was easier to think he had caused the death of James Potter and not of his precious Lily Evans. As soon as she's in the Forest, she gets the Stone of Resurrection from the Snitch and summons her family who accompany her.
The girl who lived…comes to die.
A flash of green light, and then, nothing.
(Tony had known he would be disgusted by some of the things he would see in the memories : but to think that a seemingly innocent old man had played such a large game of chess with other people's lives had shaken him to his core. He understood why Persephone was so hesitant with joining a team like the Avengers that's being overseen by a shadow organization like SHIELD. She might trust Fury on a personal capacity but if she's wary of him and his job on a professional matter, it's better to keep his eye open and check JARVIS's updates and failsafes. He had also understood that being the Master of Death is not a title given to anyone, even if they escape their death in ingenious ways much like him and his other life. But to think the spell had been used on her a second time and that she had survived it, which was impossible and wrong and should push the wizards to research it more. Furthermore, who had come up with that particular spell ? And why was he categorized as an Unforgivable when he gave you a quick and clean death instead of a Dark curse that was supposed to eat your organs from the inside of the body like that Russian Death Eater?)
When Persephone opens her eyes, she's in a sort of train station and is face to face with a masked figure with a scythe. The memory was too short but the sight had been enough to send chills to anyone that was currently watching. Of course, like a Phoenix, Persephone rises again and a duel to death starts between her and Voldemort. In an unexplainable feat, she ends up winning. The last thing they see is the young girl falling to her knees, crying in relief.
When Tony's propelled out of the Pensieve, it takes him a few moments to understand what happened and to regain his composure. He's shaken - and it doesn't take him long to notice that everyone around him has the same facial expression, aside from Fury who's as taciturn as ever.
"Don't think I have shared this information too lightly : she used a special spell from the Unforgivable department back home. Everything you have seen is stored in your subconscious - and even though you'll be aware of her magic and identity, you won't be able to share anything about her without her explicit authorization", tells them the Director of SHIELD who does not seem to be impressed by the magic behind his proclamation. "Which means, if you don't want to choke on your own spit, shut it."
The last two words are muttered under his breath - but everyone heard them, which was enough to rebuke them from trying. For the moment. Because he's Tony Stark and he believes in science - magic is just an unexplainable form of science after all - and he does not believe that anyone could block him from talking about anything.
