AUGUST 2ND, 1993 - SPINNER'S END
HOGWARTS WELCOMES ROSE POTTER
Nearly twelve years after You-Know-Who's fall, the Potter's eldest returns to England set to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after her adoptive father's, Rodrigo Vega, appointment as MACUSA's European American Ambassador. But who is this young, attractive witch who, aside from bearing a famous name, has recently caught worldwide attention after her second-place win at the International Youth Dueling Championship? More importantly, what can we expect from her return?
We all know the story of the Potters. Every wizarding child has grown up knowing the name of the famous boy wizard who defeated You-Know-Who as an infant and the story of that infamous, tragic night. However, not much is known about Rose Elizabeth Potter-Vega, the eldest daughter of James and Lily Potter...yet! All we were ever revealed following the scandalous trials of the First Wizarding War, was that the child was adopted by an American politician, Rodrigo Vega, and his wife, Isabella, in January 1982.
After the quiet adoption, nothing was heard again of Rose Potter until she began making national headlines last winter during her participation at the Young Potioneers of Tomorrow Competition, a friendly competition between Ilvermorny and several smaller American wizarding schools. However, the spotlight became brighter last spring during Potter-Vega's impressive and unforeseen rising performance at the International Youth Dueling Championship. Despite the controversy regarding the young witch's natural Legilimency, Potter-Vega was permitted to compete on the Ilvermorny Dueling Team shocking the world with an unexpected display of nonverbal magic during the finals. At only fourteen years of age, Rose reached the top three final rounds losing in an intense, head-to-head hour-long match against the first-place winner and defending champion, Mahoutokoro's, sixteen-year-old Hiro Kayashima.
Now three months shy of her fifteenth birthday, Rose has lived in the United States of America for the greater part of her life. After she departed from Britain, she lived in New York with her adoptive family. It was there that Vega was promoted from Head Auror to Head of MACUSA's Magical Law Enforcement and became actively involved in the political circle of New York's wizarding elite.
His vast law enforcement experience, political knowledge, and domestic and foreign political influence quickly won him powerful friends within MACUSA securing his place as an influential political figure.
Shortly before his daughter's eighth birthday, the Vega family relocated to Mr. Vega's former hometown in Los Angeles where he was shortly elected as a representative of the wizarding state. That same year Rose began her first year at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and has since led a quiet but accomplished academic life until last year that the teen witch was thrust into the international spotlight. Now, with MACUSA's appointment of Vega as Europe's American ambassador last spring, Rose Potter will become Hogwart's newest transfer in over 100 years.
The transfer came as a special request to Headmaster Dumbledore from Ambassador Vega as he wished to keep his family together and make the transition easier by relocating to his adoptive daughter's home country despite the recent break-out of the notorious mass murderer and You-Know-Who supporter, Sirius Black.
"I have been briefed and assured of the security measures taken this year to ensure the safety of our children at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore has my full trust." Ambassador Vega commented during his latest press conference after he arrived at the Ministry earlier this week. "Ultimately, we are very grateful to the Headmaster for allowing and accepting my daughter to attend Hogwarts. We are, of course, look forward to Rose reuniting with her brother."
No comment from Harry Potter has been given yet but with the threat of Black, it is more than expected for his end to be quiet. We were able to confirm from unnamed sources that the two siblings have been in regular correspondence since Harry Potter's first term at Hogwarts. The two surviving Potters will finally be reunited and we all anxiously await to see what they have in store for Hogwarts!
Rose Elizabeth Potter-Vega was born November 5th, 1978 in St. Mungo's Hospital, London, England; five months after the Potter's graduated Hogwarts. She is the second recorded natural Legilimens in this century. Rose was previously enrolled in Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a proud member of House Thunderbird. She retained her spot in the top ten of her class during her time as an Ilvermorny student and was awarded the Excellence in Potions Cup last term. Her teachers reveal she received top marks in Charms, Potions, Combative and Defensive Magic. She is most noted for her second-place win at the 1993 International Youth Dueling Championships breaking the record as the youngest finalist since 1943. Rose has also competed at a national level winning third place in the 1992 Young Potioneers of Tomorrow Competition. Her academic achievements have gained the support of several notable sponsors and have brought the young witch many endorsements much to the benefit of her former school. She was featured this summer on the front covers of Duel! USA, Teen Witch USA, Witches' Wear Daily, and Potions Today. Rose is the eldest of the surviving Potters and co-heir to the Potter fortune as well as the sole heir to the Vega fortune. She will begin her fifth year at Hogwarts on Sept 1.
Good luck, Miss Potter. Britain welcomes you home!
Severus set down the Daily Prophet on the table where he had been silently reading the article in the derelict kitchen of Spinner's End. He took a long sip of his now-cold, black coffee before taking a long, thin cigarette from a metal case and placing it between his chapped lips. He non-verbally lit the end and took a deep drag before exhaling the smoke.
Looking down at the article he watched the sepia-colored photograph of Rose Potter and her adoptive parents as they each shook hands with the American president in front of the press at the MACUSA headquarters. The girl did not look very tall but she had grown so much since he had last seen her. Her hair was long and unlike her mother fell to her mid-waist in styled waves. She was dressed conservatively but stylishly in a sleeveless flared dress that fell just shortly above the knee and heeled Mary-Janes.
The wealth she had grown up with visible in the jewels around her neck, wrists, and fingers.
Just like her bloody father proudly flaunting his fancy clothes and money.
Severus sneered as he watched her wave to the crowd like the self-absorbed celebrity she very likely was.
Why did she have to look like Lily?
All features were the same except for the eyes. Just as the boy was a replica of their father except for his eyes.
His life - his damned existence- was a fucking cosmic joke!
Seeing the boy daily was always enough to put him in a foul mood. It was torturous having to tolerate a smaller version of James Potter with his cheeky answers and reproachful looks from that familiar shade of green.
He could only imagine how worse his mood would turn seeing a younger version of Lily every day for the next three years. That girl had been the first proof that he had lost the only woman he ever loved. She had fallen in love with the man who had ruined everything for him. She had given herself to him.
Potter had won.
It had always been a competition for the idiot and their hate for each other had only brought out the worse in Severus. Even though the man had been dead for more than a decade he still despised the piece of rotting troll shit.
He stared down at the image again and continued to sneer this time the disdain formed on his face.
He had been a fool to think that he had seen the last of Rose Potter.
When the girl began making headlines during the Dueling Championships, he had simply avoided all articles written about her. However, he had kept up with the competition on the Wizarding Wireless station.
He didn't want to hear the girl's duels but his curiosity could not be held back. She was a fast and cunning duelist. Allowing her opponents to throw their hexes and curses that she blocked each time until they tired. Then, finally, she would round on them sending nonverbal spells one right after the other, rendering her opponents helpless, weakened by their previous efforts, and unable to block the curses they could not hear.
Severus had been impressed, how couldn't he? The girl was only fourteen and already performing magic at a seventh-year level, in fact, she was even better as many seventh-years struggled with nonverbal magic so much so that some discontinued the practice after leaving school. But he wasn't a fool to believe she was some sort of prodigy, she was a born Legilimens therefore mental magic would come naturally to her.
Not that the Championship officials would know that given their ignorance of the power.
Despite what they said Severus knew that with focus and discipline one could perform Legilimency without their knowledge. It wasn't the same as a full mind invasion and Severus could only imagine how in tune a born Legilimens could be.
Regardless of his opinions, he continued listening until the final duel. He would never admit it to anyone but a part of him had wanted the girl to win only because Lily would have wanted it.
It didn't matter though, although the girl had put up a strong fight against the defending champion she had lost. It was probably for the best. Winning would have only added to her surely inflated ego.
She was a Potter and a Potter was sure to think of themselves as better and more deserving than everyone else.
He had caught unavoidable glimpses of her as his students shared the publications and left discarded copies of Teen Witch Weekly throughout the castle that featured endless spreads on each of the young duelists raving about ridiculous nonsense like their favorite color, music bands, and inspiration. Truthfully, the championship had been their only distraction last term amidst the chaos ensued by the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Regardless, Severus tried his best to avoid that familiar face and shade of red but had seen enough to know of her strong resemblance to her mother.
He had unexpectedly seen that face again staring at him from a dozen Daily Prophets pinned to the newsstand outside the Apothecary shop in Diagon Alley early that summer announcing her acceptance to Hogwarts. Severus had nearly dropped his purchase at the dreaded confirmation as he had advised Dumbledore to refuse the Ambassador's request. However, his anger had been briefly distracted by her resemblance to her mother, it was like seeing Lily again until he remembered the honey hue of her eyes and turned away fuming with anger and cursing the old wizard.
He thought back on the night he entered the Potter's home after the attack. It had been nearly twelve years since he last saw the girl. He had been greatly relieved when he learned she had been adopted by an American couple and would be sent away ensuring that she would never set foot in his class. Severus laughed at his own foolishness and naivety, how was it that he never learned? Life was never meant to favor or be kind to him. He took another slow and long drag from his cigarette pondering as he did if he wasn't already dead and paying for his sins in the deepest parts of Hell.
He wasn't.
This was his reality.
In a month, Severus would be teaching the eldest Potter and she would be sorted into Gryffindor to be among Dumbledore's favorites. She would grow to hate him like her Housemates, her brother, and her parents. Had the fame and life of wealth and comfort made her worse than her arrogant, disgusting father? He groaned at the thought. Or was she more like Lily?
He scanned the last paragraph that listed her academic and extracurricular achievements. She was considered bright, beautiful, and famous due to her family name. She might be a skilled duelist but was she as good at potions and academics as they said or were her skills exaggerated like her wretched brother? Nonetheless, it was impressive but this Potter girl came wealthy and adored with endorsement deals, interviews, and modeling contracts. Severus groaned and covered his eyes imagining the ego on the girl and, of course, the response from the Hogwarts' male student body.
An American.
A Californian.
A celebrity.
A Legilimens.
A Potter.
A beautiful, young, talented witch with a powerful, old, and famous wizarding name.
The Hogwarts male population will be at war with each other, annoyingly competing for her attention with far more fervor than his classmates and Potter had competed for Lily's.
Fourteen.
She would soon be the same age Lily was when she cut him off. How ironic for Lily's daughter to come into his life for her fifth year.
He looked down, one last time, at the photograph. She looked so much like Lily had at that age and Severus couldn't help but find the young witch beautiful. She was just a girl but she was Lily's daughter regardless of who her wretched father had been. He allowed himself that thought, just this once, before holding up the paper, taking the lit end of the cigarette, and bringing it down directly to her image.
Severus watched Rose Potter's face burn away while feeling his feline companion silently encircle and rub against his legs. He sat back sighing deeply as he flung the burnt paper on the table and disposed of his cigarette on the ashtray.
He was tired of his life. Each year, not only did he age, but the threat of the Dark Lord's return grew causing him a colossal amount of stress. It would not be long until the Dark Lord regained power and Severus would once again be called to his side; that is if the Dark Lord didn't kill him first. Severus needed to fool his old Master first and foremost, convince him that he had remained loyal all these years by spying on Dumbledore and the boy. It was an unavoidable event that he did not look forward to.
In the meantime, he did have his own coping methods although somewhat unhealthy mostly consisting of drinking, chain-smoking, and copius one-night stands.
Shit coping methods for a shit person.
Regardless of the toll it all took on him, Severus kept his promise and tolerated spending year after year at Hogwarts. The place, whereas an older student, he had been most eager to leave behind. Perhaps his time served at Hogwarts could be more tolerable and even enjoyable if he could teach the subject that truly interested him; the one he was more than qualified to teach. However, Dumbledore claimed he feared losing him to the so-called curse but Severus knew the headmaster well enough to know he distrusted him with anything regarding the Dark Arts even its defense.
So Severus endured teaching children a subject they hardly cared for, and, in all honesty, he did not care enough to be bothered by it. It wasn't that he didn't care for his students' academic success but every year, every class, every fucking child was the same mind-numbing routine day in and day out. Severus always knew what he would encounter with each incoming class. Even if their work was done well, the results were nothing spectacular for he had seen it a thousand times before, in the very same classroom with the very same assignment.
However, occasionally, or rather rarely, a gifted child would appear in his class. Only in those circumstances would he provide guidance even appoint them as a teaching assistant during their final year. Upon their graduation, Severus always wrote a praising recommendation for them, several times he had aided a student in securing their first apprenticeship post-Hogwarts. However, he hadn't seen true, natural talent and skills since Penny Haywood, even the pragmatic Miss Granger fell short compared to his former student.
After the events of the Cursed Vaults and the departure of Jacob's sister, who Severus had the fortune and exhausting misfortune of being her Head of House, he had wanted to believe that he would finally get a rest from running after his students and saving them from the peril they would willingly and idiotically walked into. Of course, then Potter had come along and immediately took over the vacant role of the school's great protector. Outside of Hogwarts, Severus found some peace by keeping to Spinner's End but that never lasted long as he was forced to maintain contact with the Death Eaters who had escaped trial. He had a part to play among them but the pressure on Severus was undeniable and he did not look forward to the start of this particular term.
Black had escaped Azkaban. It still baffled Severus how they had both served the same Master. It was still incomprehensible that the self-righteous Black brother had turned against his friends and Dumbledore. If only Severus had known, he would have found a way to warn Lily against assigning the traitor as secret-keeper.
It didn't matter now but he knew that Black would make his way to Hogwarts for the boy and Severus had every intention of killing him should they encounter each other which he greatly hoped for.
But would he come after the girl too?
The Dark Lord had spared her, would that fact alone be enough for Black to leave her be? What should stop him from finishing off what was left of the Potters now that they would be together? For this reason, among others that he would never share, Severus had been firmly against the girl's transfer arguing that she would be safer if she remained in Ilvermorny; a half-world away from here. He had cursed the Ambassador calling him a fool for risking his daughter's safety over ridiculous sentiments; the girl could continue her education at Ilvermorny and see her family on holidays as she had already been doing! What difference did it make when she already spent the greater part of the year away from her adoptive parents? Also, if the girl was anything like her biological family she was sure to bring more trouble as well.
Of course, this had only fueled the old man to dare implicate that he cared for the girl's safety and well-being which only angered Severus further.
In the end, it was futile, Dumbledore had made his decision and there was no swaying the old fool once he had his mind set. When Severus had angrily confronted him after seeing the headlines the Headmaster had assured him that Potter's former teachers had only praises to say about the girl and her behaviour. He reassured Severus everything would be under most control and security. It was all troll shit. Nothing could ever be completely in control and no one was ever truly safe.
Could he also protect her against the Dark Lord and the threats of his followers if it came to it? Could he rely on Lupin for help? He knew her, right? It has been years but the werewolf had more affiliation with the girl than Severus would ever have. Surely he would keep an eye on his best friend's child now that he held a faculty position at Hogwarts.
After all, Severus had enough trouble keeping the boy alive to become a nanny to Potter's other brat.
'It's my fault she no longer has her real parents.'
Severus quickly shook that thought away from his mind.
At least the girl would only be around for three years. He could handle that. Her Legilimency did not concern him for his Occlumency barriers were impenetrable. He didn't need to interact with her beyond the classroom and he would do everything in his power to ensure she did not make it into the N.E.W.T.'s Level. With a combination of a painfully advanced curriculum and his crass teaching method, Severus hoped to discourage her from further pursuing an interest in potions which was cruel and vindictive but he could not have her in his class regardless of her claimed talent.
Severus would never admit it publicly but he had read her article in Potions Today that had been featured in the scholarly journal's 'Bright Minds of Tomorrow' spread usually reserved for the top, Potions students such as the winners of national brewing competitions. It had greatly displeased him seeing that dark, red hair and familiar yet strange face on the front cover more so because no other 'Bright Mind of Tomorrow' had ever been given the honor before and it certainly wasn't merited!
The girl had been given the title and cover because of who she was so he had torn it off in disgust and quickly disposed of it. He had every intention of skipping over her article but curiosity compelled him to read it. It had been a two-page spread that included everything about the girl's interest, academic achievements, and so-called talent in Potions. The girl credited both her mothers as her Potioneer role models and inspiration and spoke on her ambitions to pursue either Alchemy or Healing magic. She was certainly ambitious but obviously, her talent had been greatly exaggerated by the press as she failed to place first in a potions competition among her peers. Therefore, Severus fully planned to give her the same treatment as the boy because she did not need someone else to feed her ego.
The self-awareness of his own toxic behavior and contempt toward a girl who had done nothing to him yet did not escape him but Severus saw it as a fair trade-off. Dumbledore wanted the Potters together and the headmaster always obtained what he wanted. He could not, however, have Severus' remaining sanity.
He looked down to his side at the long-haired, chestnut cat who stared at him patiently waiting to be attended to.
"At least she'll mostly be Minerva and Dumbledore's problem."