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The Council of Thirteen
Book Six: The Fourth Lord
The Unshackling of Rose-Iris
One Shot
Beta:
Omer stood in the small English town of Godric's Hollow in the middle of winter waiting for his target. The Twelfth Lord having asked him to prevent the latest in the long line of self-styled wizarding Dark Lords from killing the young heiress of the wizarding House of Potter.
"Honestly, asking me to dabble in the affairs of wizards." Omer said with a shake of his head. Considering the wizards generally rejected the authority of the Thirteen, asking him to do so was quite the stretch. Though considering what the Twelfth had explained to him, this most definitely counted as special circumstances.
"Ah, it seems the target has arrived." Omer said as he spotted the wizard teleporting in and pushed off the tree he'd been leaning against along the path outside of the small hamlet that led to the Potter cottage.
As he walked towards the path to intercept the man who called himself Voldemort he mused on the nature of the wizard. Truly having such a weakling use his beloved French to craft his nom de guerre was annoying enough, but to actually see the man just made Omer all the more disgusted. The pathetic creature looked inhuman. Whatever magic he had been using had clearly twisted his physical body, making him look monstrous. His features were waxy and reptilian, his skin was bone-white, and the sclera of his eyes were blood-shot.
"Stop right there," Omer said as he stepped onto the path ahead of the wizard.
"A Lord of the Thirteen?" The wizard hissed - Literally hissed like a snake! - and his eyes widened in shock even as he palmed his wand warily as he apparently recognised Omer. "Why are you here? Why are you intervening in a war in the Wizarding World?"
"That is not my purpose. That I do so whilst carrying out my mission is purely incidental." Omer informed the wizard as he raised Frostmourne.
To his surprise, in a display of a truly exceptional reaction time, the wizard actually managed to cast a spell before Omer himself could.
"Avada Kedavra!" The deformed wizard cast, sending a flash of blinding green light that streaked towards the Eight Lord with a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air.
The deadly wizarding killing curse struck one of the dozens of invisible shades that made up the Shield of Howling Souls that Omer maintained around his person as part of his defensive wards, forcing the whole swirling mass of bound souls into visibility and one of them screeching in exultant joy as it was freed to enter into the afterlife.
"Impo-" The wizard gasped in shock at what the wizards considered a nigh unblockable spell was so effortlessly thwarted, thus leaving himself open.
"Ray of Negative Energy." Omer cast unhurriedly, sending a beam of dark energy shooting from Frostmourne's blade.
It seemed to startle the self-proclaimed Dark Lord out of his stupor and he spun on his heel in an attempt to use the wizards' version of teleportation.
Apparition, was it? Stupid name. Omer thought uncharitably even as he ordered a pair of spectres to materialize on either side of the wizard and hold him in place.
Their appearance caught the man, if he could still be called that, unawares and his eyes widened in shock and fear as he found himself unable to complete the mnemonic his kind relied upon for something as basic as teleportation.
It's a fitting look for this scum to die with, Omer reflected as the beam of negative energy from his spell consumed the wizard's body and drained it of all its life energy. Leaving it an empty dead husk. All whilst his spectres remained unharmed, even luxuriating in the surge of negative energy and how it empowered their being.
"Now then," Omer said as he advanced on the corpse which his spectres were holding up. "Let's cremate this and be done with-"
He cut himself off when to his surprise, the wizard's soul instead of fading into the afterlife shot out of his body as a cloud of darkness and flew off at high speed.
"He wasn't a lich," Omer said thoughtfully as he pondered on what had just happened. "That means… Hmm… Yes, a Horcrux then."
For a moment, he considered pursuing the wizard's wraith. However, he quickly dismissed the notion. As he had told the man, intervening in the wizard's war was not his mission. And by defeating the self-styled Dark Lord this night, he'd already accomplished it. No need to make his life more difficult, and risk a scolding from his darling wife, by allowing this assignment to suffer from mission creep.
"That said, let's make his return a little less easy for him shall we?" Omer said as he stabbed Frostmourne through the body. "Flame Strike."
"I hope you are worth my intervention, Rose Iris Potter." Omer said, turning to the house which contained the baby that was his peer on the Council and offering it a salute even as the corpse of the self-styled Lord Voldemort was reduced to ash. "I would hate to have wasted my time here today."
With that he teleported away, leaving Wizarding Britain none the wiser as to the identity of its saviour from the scourge of Voldemort.
"Mommy, Daddy! Come see!" Lily Potter heard her five year old daughter Rose shout as the little girl ran into the kitchen where she was working on dinner and her husband James was reading the Daily Prophet one lazy Sunday afternoon.
"What is it sweetie?" Lily asked as she turned to look at her raven haired, green eyed child only to freeze and point at the vaguely humanoid spectre that was hovering behind the girl.
"Sweetie what's that?" Lily asked, as she watched her husband grab his wand and fire off what she recognised as a diagnostic spell at the ghostly thing.
"It's my friend." Rose said with a happy smile. "I made her! With my magic!"
"You did huh?" Lily asked, with a false smile as she glanced over at James and saw him shake his head whilst sporting a worried frown.
Not a ghost or some other spirit then. Lily thought with growing worry. That's good I guess. But what is it?
The thing was like nothing Lily had seen, heard or read about. And she was terrified of what that might mean.
"You made it?" James asked their daughter as he gestured for the little girl to go closer to him. "How did you do that, huh?"
"How?" Rose said, scrunching up her face adorably in thought ignorant of her parents' concern. "I, uh, thought hard of wanting someone to play with and then poof! It was there! My new friend!"
"Is that so?" James asked, now looking very worried. "That sounds like some amazing magic you did there, sweetie. You know what?"
If even James with his Pureblood upbringing doesn't recognise what this is...
"What?" The little girl asked, blinking in confusion at the question.
"It's so amazing that I think it's only right we show it off a little. What do you think about me calling in a friend to look at it?"
Calling in a friend? Was it that serious?
"Uncle Sirius? Uncle Moony?" Rose asked enthusiastically, buoyed by the possibility of her beloved uncles visiting.
"No," James said, shaking his head. "I'm thinking Headmaster Dumbledore."
Lily felt the bottom of her stomach fall out at that. To call in Professor Dumbledore… This must be beyond serious.
"Is this the only way?" Lily asked for what seemed like the hundredth time and Albus just sadly nodded to his former student's question.
"I'm afraid so, Lily." The Headmaster of Hogwarts and holder of many other titles and positions said as comfortingly to the young mother as he could. "If I do not seal away a portion of young Rose's magic and starve it out, the parasite that has infected her will just sink its roots deeper. Eventually making it impossible for Rose to control her magic, especially when she does accidental magic. It might, in extreme cases, even lead to death."
That last point had Albus thinking back to his own family's tragic experience with the condition but he shook off the dark recollection. Now was not the time to be caught up in his own regrets. He had a little girl to save.
"But her magic will be fine afterwards? She'll be fine?" Lily pressed, radiating motherly concern.
"Yes," Albus reassured her. "She'll be a little weaker magically for some time but since she's so young, I'm sure she'll recover her old strength in due course. It is truly a blessing that we have caught the condition when she is so young."
Lily still looked uncertain but James pulled her into his front and rested his hands on her shoulders, before giving them a comforting squeeze.
"Everything will be fine, Lily." The Potter Lord told his Muggleborn wife. "Or don't you trust Albus?"
"I do, it's just Rose is-" Lily said trailing off worriedly.
"Rose is like a granddaughter to me," Albus reminded the couple. "I only have her best interests at heart."
"We know," Lily said at last. "Please take care of her."
Albus nodded and offered the couple one last reassuring smile before turning to enter the room where young Rose Iris Potter was sleeping thanks to a stunning spell. He had a little girl to save.
As Lily stood outside Rose's room whilst Professor Dumbledore worked whatever spells he needed to seal away Rose's magic to fight off the parasite, she leaned into her husband's side and worried her hands as they waited anxiously. James was her rock in this. His steadfast faith in Albus allowed her to look past her motherly worries and find the courage to do what needed to be done.
That resolve however was soon tested.
"It hurts! IT HURTS!" Her precious Rose shouted from inside the room and Lily burst out of the loose hug James was holding her in to make for the room, only for her husband to grab her arm.
"Lily don't! Albus told us it might be painful to Rose. It's why we're out here and not in there where we can see her in pain." James reminded her, looking torn even as he said it. "Remember this is for her own good!"
"Mommy! Daddy! Help me! IT HURTS!"
"James! Rose is- Our baby girl is-"
"I know Lily, I know. But it's for Rose's own good." James said as he pulled her into another hug.
As Rose's screams continued for the rest of the night as Professor Dumbledore struggled to do what needed to be done, Lily's belief that what was happening was truly the best for her daughter was increasingly tested.
"Open up, Rose." Lily said as cheerfully as she was able as she lifted a spoonful of soup up to her daughter's mouth even as Rose robotically obeyed her request.
Fighting back tears and struggling to keep up the smile for her little girl, Lily fed the soup to the hollow eyed five year old. Gone was the happy and rambunctious girl from just a week ago. All that had been left in her place since the partial sealing of her magic was a virtual automaton. A child that went through the motions of living but looked out at the world with dead eyes.
"I'm home," James said in greeting as he walked into the kitchen through the backdoor. "How's Rose? Any better?"
Lily's only reply was to shoot him a hateful glare and to move aside a little to let him see for himself.
"S-She'll get better." James said with a tired sigh. "You know it needed to be done. You heard Albus too. If we hadn't sealed away her magic and starved off that parasite then it would've killed Rose."
And what proof besides Dumbledore's word do we have of that being the case? Lily thought but did not add. She had been trying ever since that terrible night to find information, any information, to corroborate, deny or counter what Dumbledore had told them but found nothing.
Which made no sense! Even if this condition was as rare as Albus had claimed, there should've been something! Some oblique mention of it at least, but there was nothing at all! So either Dumbledore had lied or the information was suppressed. Neither of which said good things about the situation.
Not that anything about the situation was good.
"And reducing our daughter to a lifeless doll is any better?" Lily asked scathingly.
James winced but nevertheless continued.
"She'll get better." James reassured her. "Rose's case, like Dumbledore said, is extreme. But things like this happens when a person's magic is sealed away. Besides we've already made an appointment with a Mind Healer, remember? I'm sure they'll be able to help Rose."
"They better," Lily warned him darkly as she turned away from him to continue feeding Rose.
"It will," James said in what he probably thought was a reassuring tone but which to her ears just sounded hollow.
Six years later, eleven year old Rose Potter and her parents along with their family friends, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus, made their way through Diagon Alley as they gathered up the things she'd need for her First Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Alley was a hive of activity as many other children happily did their school shopping and it was, to most people, probably a joy to behold and even more wonderful to be a part of it all. But Rose felt none of that.
Instead as always, she barely registered anything going on around her. She simply went through the motions of life as her parents and uncles guided her through the trip.
"Rose, we're almost done." Mother said with a smile as they passed by what looked like an ice cream parlor. "Want to take a break and have some ice cream?"
"Should I?" Rose asked her Mother, looking at her questioningly.
Tears swam at the edge of Mother's eyes at the question - Something which just confused Rose. Why was Mother always so sad when talking to her? - but still offered her a smile.
"Do you want to?"
Rose considered the question, ignoring how her uncles were coaxing her to agree. She wasn't really hungry or thirsty. And Mother was right. They were almost done with their school shopping. They were only lacking her wand. So there really was no reason to waste time for something as trivial as a treat. She wouldn't get much enjoyment from it anyways. As with all things from as far back as she could remember, everything she ate and drank was always universally bland. Oh, she could taste just fine. It was just nothing, not even the strongest flavors left any impression on her. Nothing did really.
"No," Rose answered in the monotone with which she always spoke.
"You sure Prongslet?" Uncle Sirius asked with a frown. "I mean it's ice cream! Surely you want some!"
"No," Rose repeated, causing her uncle to pout.
"And that's fine too," Uncle Remus cut in before Uncle Sirius could continue trying to cajole her. "Isn't that right James?"
"Of course," Father said distractedly, looking away from the glare Mother had shot him for some reason.
If Rose had been a normal child she might've been curious at the interaction, but she just couldn't muster up the will to care. Besides, this was just the way things were in her family.
"If Rose doesn't want ice cream then she doesn't." Father said decisively. "Why don't we just head over to Ollivander's to get her wand and call it a day?"
"How's that Rose, that okay?" Mother asked her, looking sad as she always did.
"Okay." Rose said disinterestedly and allowed herself to be led to the wandmaker's.
As they shuffled into the shop, they found it empty.
"Huh? Did Ollivander pop out for a break or some-"
"He's right there," Rose said, pointing to a spot just beside the front door and behind their little group. "Under invisibility."
"That I am," an old man with pale silvery eyes and white skin said as he dropped his invisibility and startled the adults. "And you young Miss Potter are quite special indeed to have so easily spotted me."
"Thank you," Rose said automatically following the lessons her Mother had taught her about how to accept a compliment.
The old wandmaker frowned slightly at that reply but quickly shook it off to exchange pleasantries with Rose's parents and uncles which she tuned out, waiting for instructions on what she needed to do next. They were here to get her a wand after all.
"What is your dominant hand Miss Potter?" Ollivander asked, addressing Rose again.
"Left," Rose said as she lifted it for his examination.
He nodded and promptly put a wand into its grasp. "Give it a flick please."
Rose did and nothing happened beyond a few pitiful sparks of magic sputtering into existence at the wand's tip.
"No, not good enough." Ollivander said as he plucked the wand from Rose's hand and put another one in its place. "Try this instead."
It took a dozen failed wands, each with little more than mediocre reactions such as small sparks like the first wand or sometimes just a dim glowing of the wand tip, but finally Ollivander found one that worked.
"Perhaps this one will work," the old man said as he put yet another of the magical foci into Rose's hands.
Unlike the others, there was no need for Rose to give it a flick. The reaction was instantaneous. The wand tip glowed with a brilliant light and a rainbow colored aura surrounded her. But this external lightshow paled in comparison to what she felt inside! The moment she had grasped the wand, the magic in her veins stirred to life in a way she'd never felt before. It wasn't perfect, there was still something missing. In the wand and in her magic, but as her magic seemed to roar to life, it filled Rose with something she couldn't even remember feeling in years. Happiness. Like she was finally reconnecting with a lost piece of herself.
The feelings were so intense that she did something that she had not done in years. She smiled.
"Rose!" Mother gasped. "Oh Merlin! You're- You're smiling!"
Rose ignored her just like she ignored the rest of her family bursting into a raucous celebration with Father even picking her up and spinning her around. Instead, she focused inward as an unintelligible whisper tried to reach her from the edge of her mind. She knew, just knew, that it was important. Very, very important. But no matter how she strained all her concentration to try to decipher what it was saying, she couldn't make any sense of what it was saying.
She didn't let her disappointment at this show though, despite everything she still cared for her family and she didn't want to spoil their happy mood. Besides just like she instinctively knew that the whisper was important, she also knew that it was only a matter of time before she figured out what it meant.
Watching as the extended Potter family filed out of his shop in good cheer now that young Miss Potter had her wand and they were on their way to a proper celebration, Garrick couldn't help the smile that graced his face.
Everyone in the small community that was Wizarding Britain knew of the strange plight that had befallen young Miss Potter and how it had rendered her practically emotionless since she'd been five years old. So to see her show emotion, to see her smile, must truly be a joyous occasion for her family. Thus he did not begrudge them hurrying off to celebrate, forgoing his typical explanation of the young witch's wand's properties that he offered all new owners. They had been so caught up in their euphoria that they'd barely remembered to pay him as is!
Though, Garrick thought worriedly as he shot a perplexed look at the box that had contained young Miss Potter's new wand. A wand made from poplar and ebony with the core made from the tail hairs of a unicorn and a bicorn? This is one of the most experimental wands I have in the shop, and for it to bond with young Miss Potter so strongly… I wonder what great things we can expect from her?
"I wonder indeed." Garrick said with a smile as he began to pack away the other wands that the Potter had tried.
A week after arriving at Hogwarts to start her schooling, Rose found herself sitting in Charms class and staring with a glassy eyed look at Professor Flitwick as he lectured about the spell they would be casting in their very first practical lesson since coming to Hogwarts.
Tuning him out with the ease of practice, Rose instead reflected on her time at Hogwarts so far.
The school is impressive, I suppose, Rose thought half-heartedly. Not that she actually felt awed by it. Like with everything she just couldn't appreciate it. She felt too hollow to appreciate anything.
Her detachment from everything was something even the Sorting Hat commented upon, saying how it had forced it to dig deep to Sort her and cursing what had been done to her to make her this way. It had thus taken almost ten minutes before it had finally, mainly in frustration if she was judging its tone correctly, declared her a part of Gryffindor House on virtue of the courage she'd need in the role that she was destined for. Rose knew she should have been curious about the things the Hat mentioned whilst rummaging through her mind but she honestly couldn't muster enough concern to bother.
It was this same sense of perpetual emptiness that she felt that made her seem so much like an automaton and scare away anyone who might have wanted to be her friend. Not that Rose cared. She cared as much about making friends as she did about practically everything else which was not at all.
Though that was changing. It seemed that whenever she held her wand, she felt more like a normal person again. The way her magic sung when she held it seemed to make her feel more whole again. Not by much, but it helped and Rose loved it.
That it allowed the strange whisper to appear in her mind just made her love it more. Rose didn't know why but she needed to hear that voice. Even though she could never make out anything it said, just hearing it comforted her in a way that nothing else ever had.
"And now that you know the mechanics behind the spell," Professor Flitwick said, concluding his lecture. "It is time for you, class, to try casting it. Remember the incantation is-"
"Levioso," Rose chorused alongside the rest of the class.
Despite her ponderings, Rose had actually caught everything the part-goblin Professor had said thanks to a little trick she'd learned to listen even as her mind wandered. When you could never find value in anything around you and would rather just do absolutely nothing, you quickly learned how to run on auto-pilot to not cause troublesome panic among your caregivers. At least Rose had. That this translated into being able to multitask between listening and digesting a lecture and daydreaming was quite fortuitous.
It was thanks to it after all that Rose managed the spell easily enough.
"Levioso," she incanted, causing her magic to flow through her wand and into the feather she'd been assigned, causing it to levitate slightly.
It was a sight that should have made her happy. It was the first deliberate magic she'd ever cast but she just couldn't feel it. Instead the sight made her feel a sense of deep wrongness about the whole thing. A feeling made stronger by the comforting whisper hissing and spitting in anger in her mind, though still not clearly enough so that Rose could make sense of what it said.
What is going on with me, I wonder? Rose wondered with a sense of curiosity that she had not felt in ages.
Another two weeks later, Rose was on the way back to Gryffindor's Tower after a night searching through the Hogwarts library for any clues as to what was happening to her. It hadn't offered any clues though her attempts seemed to cause the now omnipresent whisper in her mind to speak up more. The words were still unclear but Rose was willing to bet everything she owned that it was trying to smugly tell her that it had the answers she was looking for. She dearly hoped it did, because she really wanted to know what was going on.
Guess I'll just have to wait till it grows strong and clear enough to hear properly. Rose thought to herself with heady anticipation. It won't be long now I hope. It's getting stronger every day now.
The whisper replied in what Rose was sure was agreement.
Her ponderings were interrupted however when she turned a corner and stumbled upon Draco Malfoy, a notorious bully from Slytherin House, and his cronies among his fellow First Year Housemates, Rose had never bothered learning the two big sized boys' names, bullying her housemate Neville Longbottom.
Rose wasn't surprised by the sight, Malfoy had been tormenting poor Longbottom since the start of school. Before that too if the stories about some kind of altercation on the Hogwarts Express were to be believed.
Between that and how it frankly was none of her business, she decided to just ignore what was happening and continue on her way. Unfortunately for her, Longbottom just had to spoil her plans.
"Rose! Help me!" Her Housemate cried out pitifully from where he was being held up against a wall by Malfoy's cronies whilst their white-blond haired leader tormented him with mild Stinging Jinxes.
Rose ignored him and kept walking, but Malfoy wasn't about to just let her go.
"Why if it isn't Gryffindor's living doll?" The bully said as he turned away from Longbottom to face Rose.
Still ignoring them she kept walking, hoping to just get out of there but Malfoy just gestured at one of his goons who jogged in front of her and blocked her path. Moving to intercept her whenever she tried to walk around him.
"Could you please let me pass?" Rose asked in her typical monotone, even as uncharacteristic annoyance bubbled in her mind.
"Not until you pay the toll for ignoring me, you little doll." Malfoy hissed as he raised his wand towards her. "Flipendo."
The Knockback Jinx that hit her wasn't all that powerful. She'd heard her Father describe being hit with much more powerful iterations of the spell when he told stories of his adventures as an Auror. But it was still strong enough to slam her into the wall hard.
The blow was painful but like everything else Rose felt it was dulled so it didn't really register much. What did catch her attention was the familiar whisper in her mind suddenly transforming into a roar.
"You'll pay for that," Iris Potter said through a mouth she had not had control over in years even as she pushed herself off the wall Malfoy's little spell had shoved her into.
"Oh, so the doll has some bite after all." Malfoy said tauntingly.
Iris ignored him in lieu of speaking to her other half.
Leave this to me Rose. Iris told the other part of herself mentally.
Alright. Rose replied in a tone that radiated the disturbing lack of care at anything that she seemed to view everything through.
Furious, more at Rose's attitude and the trauma that had been done to her to create it, Iris leveled Malfoy with a glare even as she called on her true magic. In response, a ghostly figure started to materialize behind her, its shape indistinct but clearly humanoid and feminine, and pointed one of its long elegant fingers at Malfoy and his goons like a wand
"Eat this!" Iris said with a smug grin as dozens of magical bolts of darkness shot from her summon's pointed finger at the three Slytherins.
The bolts travelled so fast and came as such a surprise to the boys that they had only barely raised their wands or moved to dodge before they hit them, whereupon they exploded in bursts of dark energy that crackled over everything they touched, including their bodies, like arcs of electricity and left them writhing in misery as the dark magic in the spell seeped into their bodies.
Longbottom cried out in alarm at the just payback and promptly ran away.
"Coward," Iris hissed dismissively as Rose sent her agreement.
Happy that she'd gotten some kind of response from her other half through her actions, Iris marched over to loom over the Slytherin bullies, all three of which were still spasming from the effects of her spell.
It was a typical night at Hogwarts and Albus Dumbledore found himself, as he often did during the school year, doing some paperwork in his office. It was a mentally exhausting task but a very necessary one so as to ensure the continued running of the school, and thus one, that despite his dislike of it, he did to the best of his abilities anyways.
His night of dull paperwork was however interrupted when he felt through his connection to the school's wards, a surge of alien magic through the castle.
It can't be! He thought in alarm as she shot out of his seat, his paperwork forgotten at the prospect that Hogwarts might be under attack from hostile non-wizards.
"Fawkes!" He called out to his friend, only to have the Phoenix chirp at him apologetically.
"Curses," Dumbledore hissed as she saw that his friend was currently little more than a helpless chick. In his alarm, he'd forgotten that the Phoenix had just had a Burning Day and was thus unable to flame him to the source of the foreign magic.
"No matter," he declared as he hurried around his desk and broke out into as quick a run as his aged body would allow. "I'll just have to get to wherever the intruders are the old fashioned way."
All but throwing himself down the magical staircase that connected his office to the rest of the castle, he strained his magical senses and his connection to Hogwarts itself just to pinpoint the powerful but yet simultaneously hard to detect alien magic.
Why does it feel like I am sensing a sun one second and then am grasping at shadows the next! He thought in frustration as he burst out of the stairwell and into the corridors of the castle proper.
He was just about to break into a run towards his best guess of the source of the alien magic when suddenly young Neville Longbottom turned a corner and ran towards him. Noting, where the boy apparently did not, how the castle had rearranged its halls for the boy.
Why though? Albus couldn't help himself from pondering.
"H-Headmaster!" The pudgy boy shouted as he came to a stop before him. "H-Help! I-It's Rose Potter! S-She's gone crazy a-and attacked a group of Slytherins with some kind of strange dark magic. Y-You've gotta stop her before she does something she'll regret!"
Dumbledore paled as he realised this wasn't an external attack. This was far worse. It seemed that the twisted parasite that he had sealed away inside the Potter child had escaped. Considering how powerful the thing had been when he had sealed it away years ago, he shudders to think how much more powerful it must be now. And worse, what harm it could do to whoever had the misfortune of being her victims.
"Quickly Mister Longbottom, show me where she is." Albus said, even as Hogwarts shifted its halls in front of them yet again. It seemed the castle was as concerned about this alien magic as he was, or was at least reacting to his sense of alarm over the matter, and was aiding him. "Before anyone comes to harm."
Rose looked out through her eyes with an unfamiliar but yet all too appropriate sense of distance as Iris, the other half she didn't know she had until just moments ago, walked her over to the spasming Slytherins and opened her mouth to gloat.
"You three like picking on people weaker than you huh?" Iris asked, moving her mouth into a malicious smirk. "Why don't I return the favour a little?"
At that, the projection she'd summoned waved its right hand over the three incapitated boys and unleashed a small storm of black lightning that had them writhing and howling in agony.
It was a sight that should've disturbed Rose. Everything her parents had taught her told her that what Iris was doing was wrong but… It felt so incredibly satisfying! Not just seeing the bullies put in their place but the way her magic just sung as Iris worked it was beyond wonderful. It completely eclipsed the way her magic felt when she cast the spells she learned here at Hogwarts. And then there was the feelings that bled through from Iris, though since they were the same person... perhaps saying that Iris' actions made her feel was more appropriate. Whatever the case, the whole thing was fantastic! She couldn't remember feeling more alive than in that moment as she tormented the three Slytherin bullies.
She was brought out of her reverie however when suddenly a red spell hurtled her way from further down the hallway they were standing in.
Even as Iris ducked their body, Rose instinctively called out to the new magic that Iris' awakening had unlocked, what her other half thought of as her true magic earlier, and a shimmering shield of light formed between her and the spell that deflected it harmlessly into one of the hall's stone walls.
Good job with that barrier Rose. Iris congratulated her even as a barrage of similar spells suddenly slammed into the light barrier causing it to shatter like glass.
Shit! Rose and Iris cursed as one as they fell to the floor in a bid to present a smaller target.
Above her, her summon moved to shield her with its ethereal body but it was simply shot apart by dozens of spells.
We've got to run! Iris declared as she leapt to her feet and turned to flee, Rose wordlessly echoing the sentiment.
They barely made it two steps before another barrage of spells hit her in the back and sent her into unconsciousness.
When Rose woke up, she found herself once more in control of her body. Not that it did her much good since she was tied to a bed in one of the few private rooms in the Hospital Wing. A few experimental tugs on her restraints told her she wasn't going anywhere
Iris! She called out to her other half, fearful that she had been silenced once more.
I'm still here. Iris responded groggily, much to Rose's relief. What happened? How did we end up in the Hospital Wing?
I'm not sure. Rose confessed. But I think someone stunned us and brought us here.
Any further conversation between them was cut off when suddenly the door to their room opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in accompanied by her parents. At the sight of them, Iris bristled, her mental presence taking on a decidedly angry character.
"Professor Dumbledore, Father, Mother, what is going on?"
"I am afraid Miss Potter that you are suffering from a severe case of magical parasitism, so with your parents' consent-"
"You mean with James' consent." Mother cut in scathingly, shooting Father a glare. "I refused to grant mine but I was overruled."
Ignoring Mother, Professor Dumbledore continued as is if she hadn't even spoken.
"-I will now proceed to seal away a portion of your magic to starv-"
Rose recoiled in alarm at that and Iris quickly assumed control.
"No!" She hissed defiantly. "I'd rather die! Sealing away my true magic last time tore my mind apart! Who knows what doing so a second time would do to me!"
"'Tore your mind apart'? What do you mean by that Rose?" Mother demanded, stepping in front of Professor Dumbledore challengingly blocking him from getting any closer to Rose Iris.
"A person's magic is tied to their very being. You taught me that, Mother." Iris said, spitting out the word 'Mother' like it was a curse. "So what do you think sealing a part of it does? I'll tell you what it does! It's tantamount to sealing part of a person away. It's why I, Iris, came into being. I am the part of Rose Iris that was sealed away with her true magic. By doing so you tore my mind apart, forcing two completely separate personalities to form."
"T-Two personalties?" Mother gasped, looking horrified for a moment before she turned to glare at Dumbledore. "You tore my daughter's mind apart!"
"Lily, calm down!" Father said, reaching for Mother. "We can fix it. Once we starve out the parasite, we can fix this."
"After!?" Mother shouted, incensed. "You want to tear apart our daughter's being a second time!?"
Tear them a new one, Mum! Iris cheered Mother on despite her earlier dislike for the woman, only to be admonished by a mental bop on the head by Rose.
Stop getting distracted and help me gather our magic. Rose told herself chidingly. It's being sluggish for some reason.
Right. Iris said as she too bent her will to preparing her magic even as Mother continued to berate Father and the Headmaster. She hoped things wouldn't come to a point where she would need to use it, especially against her parents, but if it did then she would. She and Rose refused to have her sense of self destroyed a second time without a fight.
"Enough," Professor Dumbledore said and raised his wand at Mother. "Stupefy."
"Was that necessary Albus?" Father asked the older man as he caught Mother's unconscious body.
"Yes," the Headmaster said urgently. "I can sense the parasite tapping into Miss Potter's magic despite the suppression potions Poppy administered to her. If we want to seal it away, we have to act quickly. We have no time to argue with Lily. And we must seal it away. Already it has caused Miss Potter to act out of character and attack others once, it would undoubtedly only further twist her psyche if left unchecked."
"They attacked me first!" Iris couldn't resist shouting back at the old codger.
"See," Professor Dumbledore said. "Would young Rose normally be so rude?"
Father looked torn but nevertheless reluctantly nodded, and shifting Mother into a princess carry, he carried her out of the room. Thus leaving Rose Iris alone with the man who had already destroyed her once.
"You won't destroy me again." The parasite said defiantly through young Rose's mouth, before it ceded control back to the deluded girl who continued in her usual monotone. "I won't let you."
"I'm sorry I have to do this," Albus told the young girl honestly. "But this must be done for your greater good!"
"Your greater good can go to hell!" The parasite spat back.
"Ignore him Iris," Rose took back control to say. "Focus on helping to gather my magic."
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that," Albus said as he began casting the binding spells.
He was unsurprised to feel the girl's magic push back at his but was shocked by the strength of it, so much so that he actually staggered back but not once did he stop casting. He would not allow this magical parasite to destroy another wizarding child, not like it had Ariana!
The world might think it was the trauma of those boys bullying his precious little sister that had made her magic uncontrollable, but he knew better. It always had been. She had suffered from a magical parasite just like poor Rose did. It was this that had caused all of darling Ariana's problems and the tragedies that plagued their family. He thus refused to allow any other wizards to suffer like he or his family had.
With this reminder of what was at stake, Albus redoubled his efforts at sealing away the Potter girl's magical parasite.
He's strong. Iris thought as she poured all her will, alongside Rose's, into gathering her magic to resist the sealing spells that Dumbledore was trying to cast on her. It was no easy task though, whatever potions they had pumped her body with was making her usually very responsive magic move like molasses which was bad enough but she was also fighting against no less than Albus Dumbledore himself! Arguably the most powerful wizard alive!
Less daydreaming, Rose chided in her usual monotone but with just a hint of rebuke. Focus!
Iris obeyed and they began to make some headway and slowly but surely a ghostly shape began to form over their bed.
"Whatever you're trying to create you parasite, it won't help." Dumbledore declared firmly as he sent a wave of magic through the binding spells he was casting on them that stymied the flow of magic to their forming summon causing it to lose a portion of its coherency. "I will save young Rose!"
"Over my dead body!" Rose uncharacteristically hissed, even as Iris poured more of her magic into her summon, undoing the damage Dumbledore had caused. "I'd rather die than have my being mutilated again!"
"Rose's death and worse is exactly what I am trying to prevent here!" Dumbledore countered and sent another surge of power through his spell.
This time she was ready for thim and met it with a surge of her own magic that not only smothered his but surged through the connection his sealing spell had created, causing him to stagger back as if hit by a Knockback Jinx.
"You won't stop me!" Iris shouted as exploiting the opening her successful pushback against Dumbledore had caused, she put the finishing touches on her summon.
"You've failed," Rose added triumphantly.
"Time to face our Elegant Wrath!" They shouted in unison as in a burst of light and magic that shattered Dumbledore's half formed sealing spell, their summon took on its complete form for the first time
Albus stumbled back and raised his arm to shield his eyes from the blinding light that had accompanied the completion of the parasite's construct. Lowering it as the light faded, he prepared himself to fight whatever abomination it had conjured in its quest to kill young Rose. Only to stare in shock at the ethereal figure hovering protectively over the girl's bed.
Instead of some horror, it was a female humanoid wearing a ball gown with a voluminous bustle and skirt and a masquerade mask. Its appearance was split vertically down the middle of its body, with everything about its right side being black on white while her left was the exact opposite. It was honestly beautiful in a ghostly sort of way.
No matter its appearance, it is a monster. Albus reminded himself as he raised the Elder Wand to attack it only to be beaten to the punch when the creature pointed its left hand in his direction and fired a beam of light from its pointer finger at him.
"Protego!" He subvocalized, conjuring a Shield Charm to protect himself from the beam.
It proved wholly insufficient as the beam effortlessly shattered it and sent him flying through the wall separating the private room from the rest of the Hospital Wing.
"Albus!" The Headmaster of Hogwarts heard both James and Poppy shout in alarm as he crashed to the ground.
They rushed to this side, where Poppy immediately forced a healing potion she pulled from a pocket of her apron down his throat. Nodding in thanks to the Healer, he hastily cast a few healing spells on himself as he forced himself to his feet and looked warily towards the hole in the wall that the parasite's construct had created.
Out of it stepped Rose Potter, fully in the thrall of the parasite and with its monstrous creation hovering above her and shielding her with its skirts.
"Poppy, evacuate the Hospital Wing immediately." Albus ordered as he pushed away from her concerned hands and moved towards the danger that Rose Potter had become to all of them. "And get as many of the faculty as can be spared. I fear I will need their assistance."
"Oh, you'll need their help alright!" Rose declared in a strange dual toned voice, part his daughter's normal monotone and part the brash voice of the parasite. "'Cos I will not have my magic be sealed away again! And I will fight anyone who tries!"
"Rose, sweetie! Listen to Daddy!" James cried out to his little girl. "Don't listen to that parasite! It's lying to you! What we're doing is for your own good!"
Rose shot him a glare filled with such anger and hate that James staggered back from the sheer intensity of it.
"You never cared for my good." Rose, his precious princess and not the parasite he could tell that much, said accusingly. "You only ever cared about your own!"
"T-That- That's not true!" James cried out in denial. "I-"
Whatever James was about to say, something which even he did not know, never left his lips as before he could articulate them Albus went on the offensive by launching a barrage of spells at Rose. He tried to cry out a warning but before he could, the thing hovering over her simply slapped Albus Dumbledore's spells aside as if they were nothing.
Merlin! Just how powerful is this parasite!?
"James! Don't just stand there!" Albus shouted. "Help me restrain Rose before she hurts anymore people!"
James rebelled at the idea of his little girl hurting anyone but he had seen the evidence of what she'd done to those Slytherins. Plus this was Dumbledore asking him to help. He has always trusted the Headmaster after all the help he'd given Remus when they were in school.
But this is my daughter that the man is asking me to fight! A part of James roared, but he squashed it.
Dumbledore has to be in right here. He has to be. James told himself firmly as he drew his wand and leveled it at his precious little princess. If not…
If not then James had really been complicit in destroying his daughter's life.
"Stupefy!" Father shouted, shooting the Stunning Spell at Rose Iris and causing her to turn to him with a look of deep sadness and betrayal.
"You too Father!?" Rose cried, tears rolling from her eyes.
"Even knowing the truth you'd stand against us!?" Iris shouted next, furious as she raised a hand in his direction and fired a bolt of raw darkness at the traitor.
"Protego!" Father cast desperately.
His Shield Charm was insufficient though. Far too insufficient. And Iris' dark bolt cut through the invisible shield like a hot knife through butter and slammed into him with enough force to send him both into unconsciousness and flying.
The part of Rose Iris that still loved Father watched as he tumbled through the air and landed painfully with a wince and sighed in relief when they saw that he was breathing despite it, but it was a small part of her in that moment. The majority of her focus being on the fight with Dumbledore.
"Miss Potter! How could you attack your father like that?" The aged Headmaster said, sounding chiding and appalled even as he waved his wand through the air at dizzying speeds and sent a host of spells, most of them unfamiliar, at Rose Iris.
"He attacked me first." Iris shot back even as Elegant Wrath interposed itself between them and the incoming spells and Rose threw up layers of raw light magic that easily absorbed everything that the old wizard threw at them.
"Just like you did," Iris continued as she had Elegant Wrath raise its right hand and had a beam of pure darkness shoot from the black gloved hand at the wizard.
Acting with speed that still surprised Rose Iris despite his continued shows of it, Dumbledore flicked his wand at some of the by now empty Hospital Wing beds - Madam Pomfrey having already managed to evacuate the few patients there since Rose Iris began her bid for freedom, even taking her Father with her as she did - and had them fly in front of him as a makeshift barrier.
They barely lasted a second before the beam consumed them and continued unimpeded to streak across the mostly empty Hospital Wing and blast a hole in the exterior wall. It did not however hit anyone.
"Where did h-" Iris began, only for Rose to turn her around and unleash a pillar of light behind her.
"There!" Rose roared in satisfaction as her light burned Dumbledore and he abandoned whatever spell he had been attempting to cast in a desperate bid to escape its searing touch. Rose did not let him however and had the burning pillar of light follow him doggedly.
A dozen bolts of light streaked at Rose Iris suddenly and Rose shrieked in surprise even as Iris raised walls of shadow that absorbed the overpowered stinging jinxes shot at them by the newly arrived Professor Flitwick.
Elegant Wrath moved to stand protectively in front of Rose Iris and raised its left hand but as it did, the remaining Hospital Wing beds suddenly transfigured into thick cables that proceeded to wrap around it. Surprised, their summon didn't resist as they forced its arm down and bound it to its side as the cables coiled around its body like a boa constrictor.
"Miss Potter!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly as she stepped up to stand beside Professor Flitwick, even as Professor Snape ran out from behind them to tend to the badly burned Dumbledore with a potion bottle already in hand. "Stand down at once!"
"No!" Rose Iris shouted in defiant union even as with a thought from her, Elegant Wrath pulsed its aura of light and dark magic and disintegrated the cables binding it. "I will have my freedom!"
"Freedom?" Professor Flitwick asked, shooting the Headmaster a suspicious look even as Professor McGonagall's eyes widened in shock at the display of Elegant Wrath's power. "What are you talking about?"
Iris didn't want to even entertain them, but Rose was of a different opinion.
I should at least try to talk to them. She insisted. It can't be that everyone is against me!
Fine! Iris conceded. But don't let your guard down.
Rose sent her other half a burst of thanks even as she heeded her advice and surrounded them in an aura of protective light.
"The Headmaster," Iris spat, nodding towards the old man who was chugging down whatever healing potion Professor Snape had offered him. "Sealed my true magic! He violated my very being! I freed myself and now he wants to seal it again! I will not let him!"
"Albus is that true?" The part-goblin Charms Professor asked, looking horrified. "That's a-"
"Not the point now Filius," Professor McGonagall shouted as she jabbed her wand at Rose Iris and sent a dozen arrows shooting towards her which were burned to cinders well away from their target by Rose's barriers of light.
So much for talking to them. Iris spat at Rose who could only give a sad mental nod in reply.
"Look around you at all the damage she's caused." The Transfiguration Professor added, gesturing to the devastated Hospital Wing whilst slashing her wand through the air to transfigure a wall of stone into being that barely held against the barrage of shadow bolts that Iris sent at her in retaliation for the arrows. "We can sort that out later. For now we need to contain her."
"You're right," Professor Flitwick said in agreement as he moved his wand in triangular motions, causing controlled explosions along the stone wall that sent its remains flying at Rose Iris in a deadly rain.
Not that she was unprepared for it as Elegant Wrath simply raised her left hand, conjuring through the gesture a wall of light that blocked the shrapnel hurled at her. At the same time, it pointed its right at the two Hogwarts Professors and fired a beam of dark energy at them.
Displaying remarkable agility, Professor Flitwick dove out of the way of the beam. For her part Professor McGonagall tried to imitate Dumbledore's tactic from earlier and tried to transfigure a barrier. In her case, this took the form of what looked like a vault door. Despite its sturdy appearance it did her as well as her superior's attempt had and the beam blasted through it without the slightest hint of difficulty. Unlike Dumbledore however, she hadn't the good sense to move out of the way of the beam's fury in the precious few seconds that her barrier might have bought her and it caught her full on.
"Minerva!" The woman's colleagues shouted in alarm as the beam petered out, having blasted another hole in the castle and leaving a badly burned but still alive Minerva McGonagall in its wake.
"Severus! Get Minerva to safety!" Dumbledore ordered his Potions Professor as he rejoined the fight, sending what must have been a dozen spells at Rose Iris that were deflected by the barriers of light and darkness that she'd surrounded herself with. "Filius, with me!"
"Yes Albus!" Both men chorused as they obeyed his command.
Snape rushed over to the downed McGonagall and picked her up before sprinting as fast as he was able out of the Hospital Wing, even as Flitwick joined Dumbledore in futilely trying to batter down Rose Iris' barriers with a barrage of spells.
"Your spells are weak." Rose noted with a frown before Iris continued scornfully. "Try harder!"
Even as she spoke, Rose Iris had Elegant Wrath unleash a wave of mixed light and shadow energy that quite literally blew the walls and roof of the Hospital Wing clean off, exposing them to the outside.
"She's right, Albus! We need to escalate this!" Flitwick shouted as she staggered out from behind what must've been at least a dozen Shield Charms.
"I'm afraid you're right," Dumbledore agreed grimly as he stepped out from the crumbling shield of transfigured stonework that he'd used to protect himself from Elegant Wrath's attack.
It was however neither of them who put their new resolve to action first, but instead a newly returned Snape.
"Crucio!" The former Death Eater cast, pointing his wand at Rose Iris who just blinked at him in confusion.
"Was that supposed to do anything?" Rose asked, thoroughly confused by nothing happening only for Iris to offer an explanation with a scathing laugh. "You think your petty Cruciatus Curse can affect us? Your magic barely tickles! We burned it off almost as soon as it entered our system. You want pain! Try this!"
At that Iris pointed her right hand at Snape and sent a surge of her magic straight into his system in a crude, overpowered imitation of his Cruciatus Curse. Immediately, the wizard collapsed to the ground writhing in utter agony, his body contorting painfully and the sound of bones breaking from his involuntary exertions echoing through the air as Rose Iris' magic played havoc with his nervous system.
"Severus!" Dumbledore shouted aghast even as Flitwick responded by shooting a Stunning Spell at the sallow skinned man before he could hurt himself further.
"You just used an Unforgivable Miss Potter," Flitwick said, looking horrified. "How could you?"
"He did it first," Rose Iris said with a careless shrug.
"That is no excuse!" Dumbledore said as he once more unleashed a barrage of spells that were again effortlessly blocked by Rose Iris' barriers. "It's use is unforgivable."
"I got that from its name," Iris quipped in a deadpan, shooting him an unimpressed raised eyebrow even as Rose directed Elegant Wrath to keep Flitwick occupied by tossing bolts of light and shadow at the nimble former duelling champion who returned fire with spellfire of his own that like Dumbledore's proved ineffective.
This is getting me nowhere. Iris thought as she continued to keep the two Hogwarts Professors at bay. Even if I beat Flitwick and Dumbledore, there's still the rest of the Hogwarts staff to go through. They might not be here now-
Probably busy maintaining order elsewhere in the castle.
Probably. Iris agreed. And there's the Aurors too.
Rose sent a mental nod to her other half. Someone must've called them by now. They'll be here soon.
If I keep going like this, I'll be bogged down and eventually I'll get tired-
Then they'll beat me and-
And they'll seal my magic again!
Probably toss me into Azkaban for using the Cruciatus on Snape.
A cold dread settled in Rose Iris as she reached that conclusion.
We need to go all out. The girl's two minds thought as one.
"I have had enough of this!" Iris said suddenly, even as Rose commanded Elegant Wrath to start floating into the sky above through the shattered roof of the Hospital Wing. "It's time I take my leave from this place."
"Of the whole Wizarding World," Rose added as in her position hovering above her Elegant Wrath raised its arms skyward and began gathering her magic. "Where I will never be allowed to be myself."
"I will have my freedom." Rose Iris said in unison, even as she hopped on the spot and unleashed a wave of shadow and light that sent Dumbleodre and Flitwick reeling. "At any cost!"
Above them, two massive spheres of energy had formed above Elegant Wrath's hands. Above her right was an orb of roiling darkness and to its left was a sphere of brilliant light as bright as the sun.
"Stand aside and let me leave." Rose Iris demanded. "Or I'll destroy Hogwarts!"
It was an empty threat. Really, it was. No matter her desperate desire to escape, Rose Iris could not bring herself to do something so drastic. Not when so many lives, including her parents', would be lost if she carried through with it. She just hoped that if she showed the Professors that she was serious, that they'd back down.
Sadly, things didn't work out that way.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this!" Dumbledore said sadly, as he raised his wand. "Ava-"
"Avada Kedavra!" Flitwick cast first, sending the deadly green light of the Killing Curse streaking towards Rose Iris.
It slammed into the barriers of light and shadow that the girl had surrounded herself with and shattered a dozen of them before petering out.
"You just tried to kill me," Rose Iris observed in shock even as she instinctively unleashed the most powerful wave of her light and dark magic she'd so far. One that hit both wizards so hard that they were thrown bodily into the walls with bone breaking force. "You just trIED TO KILL ME!"
Driven by incredulous anger at her teachers trying to kill her, Rose Iris gave her summons the order to carry out her threat. At once, Elegant Wrath began to move her hands together, in the process bringing the twin spheres of powerful magic it had gathered into a collision course. One that would unleash massive destruction.
"Sleep," Dom incanted, casting a sleep inducing spell she'd learned from Tomoyo-sama as she materialized from a Shadow Step directly behind the rampaging Fourth Lord, catching the young girl as she collapsed.
Just in time too as above them, the girl's summon had almost completed the preparations to unleash the devastating attack it had been building up but with its summoner unconscious, the projection instantly began to lose coherency and began to fade. This didn't dispel the massive amount of magic that it had gathered but that Dom could handle easily enough.
"Spellbreaker." She cast casually, hitting the gathered mass of light and dark magic with an equal mass of anti-magic that dispelled it, all whilst adjusting the girl in her arms to a more secure princess carry.
"What is a Lord of the Thirteen doing here!?" The pompous ass that was Albus Dumbledore demanded as he strode forward. "You are traspassi-"
"And you should be glad that I am," Dom shot back. "Or you would be dead."
"I could have handled it," Dumbledore blustered. "Besides, it was an internal wizarding matter. There is no room, no matter the consequences, for one of your kind to intervene."
"So you'd rather protect your borders at the expense of the lives of everyone in this castle, good to know." Dom noted. Looks like Dumbledore was a monster. Then again considering the rumors about the man, she didn't find it surprising. "But you can take heart, I did not violate the sanctity of your oh so sacred borders. I was here to rescue a fellow Lord of the Thirteen."
"What do you mean, my Lady?" A part-goblin that Dom recognised from the intelligence brief she'd read on the place as being Hogwarts' Charms Professor said.
"Simply that Rose Iris Potter is a Lord of the Thirteen." She informed the wizards. "And I've just saved her from your kind's barbaric practice of binding a non-Wizard's true magic."
"I-Is that what we were doing? Albus, answer me!" A tall, thin man with hazel eyes said as he stumbled into the wrecked room towards the ancient looking school Headmaster. "Tell me, is what she said true?"
"It is," Dom confirmed, causing the new arrival to collapse to his knees and begin wailing for some reason. "And it is a practice that the Council of Thirteen will no longer tolerate. If your kind choose to continue to do so, we will not hesitate to declare war to put a stop to it."
"That is not what we're doing!" Dumbledore roared in defiance. "We're fighting para-"
"Oh, save whatever lies you tell yourself to justify destroying the lives of children, Dumbledore." Dom told him dismissively. "Just know that you better make sure your people comply with our demand, which will be formally submitted to your International Confederation of Wizards shortly, or you'll have to live with the consequences."
"The Wizarding World will not take kindly to such a threat from the Council of Thirteen." Dumbledore warned. "You have never represented us! What right do you have to dictate terms to us!?"
"Just because wizards have never met the criteria of the selecting magic to become a Lo-"
"So you Lords have always claimed." Dumbledore countered bitterly.
"I only speak the truth," Dom said with a tired shrug, she'd heard enough of the wizard's excuses. "And I have no more time for you and your kind's nonsense, thank you very much. I will take my leave now."
Without waiting for a reply, Dom teleported away uncaring of the mayhem that the Fourth Lord's rampage nor the chaos her brief visit had left in their wake.
"Twelfth," Dom greeted with a growl as she stalked into her aforementioned colleague's sanctum in the heart of his tower. "Why did you only inform us of Rose Iris' plight when things went critical? If you had told the rest of us about her situation when her true magic was first sealed, we could have intervened and prevented the girl so much pain."
"Hello to you too, Dom." The Twelfth greeted politely despite the woman's abruptness. "And as to your question, the answer is simple. Whilst I know much and can see much with my magic, I am by no means omniscient. I was not aware of what happened to Rose Iris until her magic started surging erratically as it burst the bonds the wizards had placed upon it."
"You didn't sense her magic being sealed?" Dom demanded.
"A magical child's magical strength fluctuates throughout their development, as you well know from experience raising your own children," the Twelfth reminded her. "I had simply thought that her reduced strength was just an ebb in her growth."
"And that mistake has cost her dearly."
"I admit that freely," the ancient agreed. "And for that I am deeply sorry. I will pay the Fourth a visit when she is more settled to apologize to her personally."
"Very well. Though save the visit. I will bring her here when she is ready. No sooner than that." Dom told him with an amused smile. "Otherwise, I fear she might try to kill you. Rose Iris has quite the temper."
"Whatever you think is best," the Twelfth conceded. "As her guardian, I trust your judgement."
Dom nodded and turned to leave but paused before looking over her shoulder to add, "And don't visit my home for a while. At least not where Rose Iris might see you. I wasn't kidding when I said she had a temper. I would rather not have to rebuild the Governor's Palace."
"Duly noted, Thirteenth. I will be discreet and avoid contact with the Fourth."
Having extracted that one last promise from him, Dom teleported away and the Twelfth breathed a sigh of relief.
"As the youngsters nowadays said, 'I done goofed' this time."
In the Witch's House, most of the members of the Sapphic Circle sat on the benches on the side of a tennis court and watched as Midori, the Woodland God and Shiro Evileyes played against each other. Or more accurately, as Shiro trashed her wife in game after game.
"I dunno why Midori ever agrees to play with Shiro," Frenda said with a shake of her head. "I mean she totally sucks at tennis and Shiro plays like a pro. Of course, she'll lose."
"It's not about winning." Azathoth informed her consort with a smile. "It's about being able to just spend time with her wife."
"Still think she could come up with a better way they could spend time together. One where she doesn't have to see herself get beaten in straight sets over and over again at least."
"She likes it so who are we to gainsay her?" Ellen chimed in, drawing the couple's attention.
"True," Frenda allowed with a sigh. "I still think it's a little odd though, but it's her choice. Anyways, Ellen, Viola, a question!"
"Yes?" Ellen asked, even as Viola turned away from watching Midori get trashed in her match to look at Frenda.
"Where's the kids?"
"Their granddad took them out on a trip visiting some of the realms he found most interesting." Viola explained. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious is all." Frenda explained with a shrug.
"She's lying." Azathoth said with a teasing smile. "She wanted to spoil your kids a little. You know how she's like with little kids."
"Hey! I'm not that bad!"
"Frenda dear, need I remind you how utterly spoiled Fremea is?" Azathoth asked, crossing her arms and shooting her wife a look.
"Uh…"
Ellen and Viola both laughed at Frenda's expense. It was a well known fact that Frenda's little sister was spoiled rotten. Though truth be told that was as much Ruiko's fault as it was her sister's. The Atomic Sultan was guilty of treating her sister-in-law more like a daughter than anything else, one she was more than happy to give everything the girl wanted and was within her considerable power to provide.
"Change of topic! Please." Frenda whined as she squirmed from being put on the spot.
"Oh, alright." Ellen said, deciding to have mercy on her friend. "So what do you girls think about all the disruption to the Wizarding World in Thirteen's universe caused by the Fourth's awakening?"
"It will provide avenues for us to expand our influence into wizarding society," Frenda observed with a thoughtful hum, her tone and posture flipping on a dime. "And more influence is always useful."
"Yes," Azathoth agreed. "Sometimes not intervening and just exploiting openings when they present themselves is just as, if not more, profitable than taking direct action. This is one such instance."
"Indeed," Ellen agreed. "And it looks like it's also had the added benefit of weakening Thirteen's unity a little too."
"I think you're being a little too optimistic there, Ellen." Viola countered. "The Twelfth has always been regarded by his peers as enigmatic and not always on their side, this is unlikely to radically change things."
"Fair enough," Ellen allowed with a pout. "But one can hope."
"Yes, they can. Which is one reason I won't give up." Midori said as she walked over with Shiro to where their friends were gathered. "I will beat you someday."
"If you keep trying, I'm sure you will." Shiro said condescendingly.
Midori just huffed and stalked over to grab her water bottle, leaving the rest of the Sapphic Circle giggling at her childish behavior.
"Okay, since the court's free." Ellen said as sat up and picked up her tennis racket. "Anyone up for a game with me?"
Done!
So some people might find it odd that the wizards are portrayed as being so weak. However, that is honestly how I see things. In comparison to other magicians, in other media and/or even in RL myth, wizards as demonstrated in the Potterverse just don't really stack up. At least in my eyes and thus within any universe(s) that I construct where they exist. They have advantages of course, but overall, they're just weak. That's that.
On another note, Rose Iris was behaving quite childishly in the later parts of the chapter (aka during her rampage) and repeatedly falling back on the 'they did it first' excuse to justify her actions. Please remember that she's eleven and emotionally stunted at this point, so of course she'd be childish like that.
Lastly, some may find my use of singular pronouns for Rose Iris strange. This is wholly deliberate (so let me know if I accidentally used plural ones somewhere so I can change them) as I want to show that despite being two separate personalities, Rose and Iris are very much still the same person. Sorry if it gets confusing at times, it definitely did for me as I wrote, but I feel it fits with Rose Iris' situation.
That's all I need to talk about I think so till next time mar sin leat!