"I wasn't expecting this many Sarutobi" Akira exclaims, ninjato in her left hand and a kunai twirling around her right index finger.
"Must be the Uzumaki we allied with. They've been bloodthirsty in battle ever since Kaito Uzumaki blew up a trio of Jonin teams in one of his legendary Fuinjutsu traps." Satsuki, the short Chunin explains.
"How many of each side did you count?" inquires Madara, his Sharingan blending in with the red of the sunset, the tomoe in his eyes gleaming like dark stars.
Satsuki answers her cousin, "Just over two hundred Sarutobi and just under a hundred Uzumaki."
"Did you count the Jonin?"
"The Sarutobi have more than two dozen Jonin. It's kind of hard to tell since their Chunin and Jonin are all around the same age."
"And the Uzumaki?"
"They don't even have any clan uniforms, though."
"Then speculate."
"I guess like ten, maybe more, maybe less."
"Hmm. Uzumaki Jonin are worth five times a Sarutobi Jonin in battle. Send word to the Uzumaki encampment that we'll join them and we'll lend Jonin-led Chunin team if they can guarantee us a shipment of seaweed, salted fish and paper bombs before the next moonless night. The rest of you should get some sleep, I'll take first watch."
Violet wakes up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. She shakes off her ancient memories and gets out of bed. Whether it's from the Panacea rewriting every cell in her body or from the two thousand years of ninja memories, she feels like a whole new person.
Sunday morning, September 3rd
A different Violet Potter lies awake in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing than the one that lost consciousness from the Dementor attack on the train.
She's no longer shy, socially awkward or a child. She's not held back by an abusive childhood nor a lack of parental warmth. She's been a parent and she's been a child with loving parents several hundred times over. Violet even remembers being her own mother and feeling the love she has for…. Herself. Her own trauma feels like a distant nightmare she once had as a child. A nightmare she hasn't had in a very long time.
She is not the Girl-Who-Lived who wants to be normal and simply fit in anymore.
Violet Lilian Potter, now a disciple of the Demon Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Primogenitor of all Chakra and Magic, her very, very, distant ancestor sits upright in her hospital bed and stretches her arms and yawns.
Also she's the heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and according to Dumbledore's memories, heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell and Gryffindor. The House of Peverell was absorbed into House of Potter and the House of Gryffindor left almost everything to the maintenance of Hogwarts, so it means very little. It does magically grant her a few things. She now has a familial right to the Sword of Gryffindor as if her courage fighting the Basilisk didn't grant that already. Also she has a hereditary right to the 3 Hallows including the only Hallow she has access to, her invisibility cloak. Of course, the Stone of Resurrection is still missing as it had been for over seven hundred years, while the Elder Wand currently recognizes Dumbledore as its master and has to be won in battle for that to change.
Of course, as impressive as all that sounds, in reality it doesn't change her true self beyond broadening her knowledge of the less privileged and more cynical views of life. Also now that everything is set into place, she can feel the leftover soul magic of her own mother. Violet's mother Lilian Potter had a tiny sliver of her soul left after Lichfield's soul shard was eaten and used the remaining shred of herself to glue Violet together before Dumbledore decided to make Violet immortal. So in a way, Violet became a tiny little bit more like her mother. This massive change in perspective is also partially due to Violet drastically discarding many of her biases, inhibitions, and prejudices while using mind magic last night to organize her mind. Her mind is now clear, her thoughts are well protected under mental shields and other defenses that make Lichfield and Dumbledore's Mind Magic seem pale. But alas, this is not something entirely attributed to herself, as Kaguya has held her hand through most of the work, helping her attune herself to the Rinne-Sharingan and its mental amplification powers.
As it is, her mental defenses are incredible by Wizarding World standards but just above average by Shinobi standards and mere wet paper before a mind walker like the Yamanaka are. Kaguya had made it very clear to her so that she would not get a big head out of it, explaining to her in detail what a competent Rinnegan user like Nagato Uzumaki had been capable of.
As such, Violet did not wake up thinking she could take over the world with a snap of her fingers, Rinne-Sharingan and Tenseigan or not.
She did, however, wake up with a plan. A rather cold and vicious plan that would make her few friends and more then a few enemies, but from what she could tell from her memories and her own interpretation of them, it was necessary.
As such, after a generous breakfast and a checkup from Madam Pomfrey, she leaves the Hospital Wing. Rather than head for her dorm in Gryffindor Tower, she instead goes directly to the seventh floor and after passing by a certain moth-eaten tapestry with a certain need in mind, a large metallic double door appears on the wall opposite said wall decoration, and she swiftly enters and closes the door behind her, willing it hidden while she's inside.
"Now where is that damn Diadem?" Violet grumbles.
"The third junk aisle on the left, that was where Riddle put it." Kaguya reminds Violet as she checks again on the memory.
"Right, right." Violet sighs as she hurries in that direction, quickly walking down that aisle. "It was on top of a bust, right?"
"Indeed." The rabbit goddess confirms.
It only takes Violet a few minutes to find it and only a few more to properly tap into the power of the Rinne-Sharingan to absorb the Horcrux enchantments, the soul fragment and the bone explosion curse that Lichfield placed on it – with the added bonus of activation only when the Diadem was placed on someone's head, as many would be tempted to do considering it's legend.
It only took that long because Kaguya wanted the original enchantments to remain intact, as she wanted to study them. Apparently, as luck would have it while Godric Gryffindor had been an Asura Otsutsuki Transmigrant, Salazar Slytherin an Indra Otsutsuki Transmigrant and Helga Hufflepuff a Hamura Otsutsuki Transmigrant, Rowena Ravenclaw had been gotten as far as she did on her own talent and power, not inheriting anything via Transmigration. And thus, Kaguya wanted her most famous achievement, the Diadem of Ravenclaw, which conferred the wearer the mind of a genius. She did not know whether the Diadem was a repository of knowledge like a Pensieve or boosted one's mental powers, but she wanted it badly.
With the combined knowledge of both Dumbledore and Lichfield, Violet and Kaguya know in detail what the three of the four Founders' artifacts were capable of. – Only the Diadem remained mysterious. Slytherin's Locket made the user almost immune to venoms and poisons as long as she were a Parselmouth – thus useless to Violet who's already immune from the Panacea. Gryffindor's Sword is a rather standard, if richly decorated, goblin sword which could cut through most enchantments and absorbs the magic of whatever it touches – yet again something she can already do thanks to the Rinne-Sharingan. Hufflepuff's Cup is rather impressive, as any poison brewed in it and left there untouched for a whole day was inverted into the very antidote of the brewed poison – but once again not something Violet needed. The Diadem, however, while quite famous for its abilities, had not been tested properly by Lichfield for the simple reason that it rejected him – rather painfully at that – when he put it on. From what she deduced from purveying his memory, it was either enchanted to react like that when worn by someone that had been tainted past a certain point by dark magic, or who had an incomplete soul. As it was, he had been unwilling to reveal it to another in order to test it, out of fear that it would give a boost great enough for the wearer to overpower him.
"Okay, it's clean. I'm pretty sure the original enchantments are still there." Violet announces to herself aloud and alone in the room of hidden things. "Shall I try it on now?"
"…No. it's too risky. Leave it where it is for now, it can stay here for another few months if need be." Kaguya decides despite how tempted she is to answer affirmatively.
"Or at least until I can cast the more delicate diagnostic charms." Violet sighs.
"Yes. In the meantime, there's another reason you came here."
"Right, right." Violet grimaces as she returns near the door and thinks aloud "I need all the still usable wands available to appear in a pile in front of me!"
A blink later, thirty-seven wands are resting in a long chipped Halloween plate atop a banquet table in a newly cleared room about the size of the great hall. Leaning down, she grabs the nearest one and gives it a proper look. It looks oddly familiar…
"…Right, this one was Quirrell's." Violet realizes and with that she also understands that a good number of those wands once belonged to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors that had been claimed by Lichfield's curse on the position. She considers breaking the curse for a moment – she knew how it was created and thus knew more than most how it could be removed – but then remembers who the current DADA professor is: Remus John Lupin, supposedly a friend of her father who had not bothered as much as sending her a letter in the past couple years since she returned to the Wizarding World.
She's aware that he couldn't have reached her before her Hogwarts Acceptance letter since Dumbledore had placed a redirection ward that sent all the fan-mail and other such letters and packages into a vault at Gringotts where it would be all held in stasis. The old man had also had the forethought of telling the public as much so that there would be no angry fans hounding her for being ignored once she came to Hogwarts.
That did not change the fact that Dumbledore knew the vault was almost completely full despite the integrated expansion charms and there was another waiting for her with money or trinkets willed to her by various people grateful to her for stopping Lichfield.
That being said, Violet is feeling distinctly uncharitable to the self-pitying werewolf who reminded her more than a bit of a younger, whiny and broody Sasuke Uchiha – and frankly Violet disliked all versions of that particular Uchiha.
Shaking her head and deciding to ignore that thought, she focuses her attention on the wand. She doesn't know what core it has, but the wood is Alder and about nine inches long. And, most importantly…
"This wand has been won from its previous owner. It will obey you without issue." Kaguya says in satisfaction.
"Let's hope that will be enough… and let's keep it in reserve, for now." Violet decides as she sets it aside, followed by Gilderoy Lockhart's which had been taken by force from the fraud when he attempted to flee Hogwarts. Taking an unfamiliar wand, Violet wills the Room to change into a shooting range and is soon pointing her like-new used wand at a straw target with a target painted on its belly and head in front of a reinforced wall behind said target.
"Reducto." She says simply… only to swear loudly when the wand catches fire after it had unleashed a huge bluish white beam that atomized the target and left a gaping hole in the brick wall behind "That went well." She sighs.
"No worse than we expected." Kaguya reminds her. "It was quite better than a few of the scenarios I had envisioned."
"True." Violet nods. "It didn't explode and kill me. It merely burnt out from the oversurge of magic I pushed through it. But…" she broke it in half to reveal a single silver thread covered in soot "It was an Unicorn Hair Wand. Who knows how a Phoenix Feather one like mine will react."
"Pick another wand and find out. You'll run across one eventually." Kaguya instructs
An hour and twenty wands later, she makes significant progress. She can now cast a couple dozen spells in quick succession without the wand becoming overheated. She had also discovered that Phoenix Feather wands worked significantly better then the others and deduced that it was due to her affinity to that core and the willing sacrifice of Fawkes for her recovery.
That discovery made her rather pleased with her forethought of taking with her the handful of tail and flight feathers that had fallen off the immortal bird while it was straining to carry her and Ginny out of the Chamber of Secrets. Should she need a new wand, she now had at least one of the materials to make one. She has a feeling Ollivander would not care much where the feathers came from.
"That is good enough for now." Kaguya stops her when she raises the wand she had been using as it had cooled down enough. "Try with your own wand… or better yet, first try with one of the two you have won."
"Good point." Violet nodded as she grabbed Quirrell's wand, knowing that she would not feel the least bit sorry if it caught fire.
It did not catch fire. In fact, it worked better than any wand had so far. She spent a full half hour casting various spells with it, all the while making sure to regulate how much magic he was pushing through it, before it began warming up significantly.
At that point, she considered it safe enough and pulled her own Holly and Phoenix Feather wand and began testing it out, performing even better than Quirrell's – but it did, however, begin heating up after a good half hour of casting with increasingly more magic pushed through it.
"Well, it will be good enough for now. I'll have to look into having a more resilient custom wand made later, but for now it will serve me well. It's not like I'll be casting continuously in class like I did here." Violet decides as she pockets her wand and heads out straight to the nearest girl's lavatory where she spends a couple minutes casting a Disillusionment charm on herself, overpowering it enough that even when she moved it took a careful look to spot her. It was a trick she had learnt from Dumbledore's memories that she had obviously yet to master as the elderly headmaster was almost as undetectable as he were using an invisibility cloak, but it was more than good enough for what she needed currently. Her Cloak of Invisibility would have obviously been a better choice, but she would rather avoid going to the Gryffindor tower at the moment. Even with this charm on, it was entirely possible for her to bump into someone in the crowded Common Room.
As such, she went straight to the Owlery.
"Hedwig, it's good to see you girl." She grins, as the snowy owl seemed to look her over in concern.
"I'm fine, don't worry. I'm more than fine, I've never felt better. Now, I need you to deliver this to Dumbledore." She shows her feathery friend the letter. "But!" she raises her voice a bit when the eager bird begins reaching for it with her beak. "I need it to arrive about an hour from now. Can you do that, girl?"
At the almost insulted look she received, she decided that yes, she could deliver the letter at the appointed time, so she gave it to Hedwig and left.
"That owl of yours is quite intelligent. Not at the level as the Summon animals of my time were, of course, but more than they should be." Kaguya muses. "She might be your Familiar."
"So my magic is bonded to and flowing into her?" Violet inquires.
"Yes. Another thing to look into, I suppose." Kaguya remarks.
Making her way back into the castle and up to the third floor, she taps the statue of the One-Eyed Witch with her wand while whispering Dissendium causing its hump to open to reveal a short slide into a tunnel which leads under the school. Entering it, she hurries through the tunnel using her now higher than normal speed to reach the cellar of Honeydukes Sweets Shop in Hogsmeade in just over twenty-five minutes without straining herself.
Sneaking out of the shop, she went to the Three Broomsticks Inn where she let her Disillusionment charm drop while she was out of sight before walking purposely towards the fireplace connected to the Floo Network that was for public use – for a couple bronze chips of course, as while the Floo powder provided in a nearby bowl is cheap, it's not free.
"M-Miss Potter?!" The Bartender stutters in shock. Violet glances in her direction and quickly recalls her as Madam Rosmerta, bartender, owner, & landlady of the Three Broomsticks.
"Yes. And you would be… Madam Rosmerta, right?" Violet replies, receiving a nod. "Well, good morning. Don't mind me, I'm just passing through. I'll be taking the Floo to the Ministry. I have some people to… talk to… there."
The busty bartender is rather perceptive as she picks up the restrained violence in Violet's voice, but decides to not do anything to impede the angry young witch.
It probably has something to do with her glowing emerald eyes burning dangerously with barely suppressed rage and magic, being on the brink of activating her Dojutsu. "I see… Well, good luck. Try not to get in too much trouble." She wishes to the exiting Hogwarts student.
"I make no promises." Violet replies with a prankster grin that reminds Rosmerta of her James Potter, before she turns and drops a few chips in the money jar before taking a thick handful of Floo Powder. "Ministry of Magic." She declares as she steps through the green fire, disappearing from the pub.
Within the hour, rumors had spread across half of Hogsmeade that Violet Potter is going to take down the Ministry of Magic. Funny how they reached that conclusion, even if it wasn't entirely out of Violet's mood at the moment.
Appearing in the Ministry Atrium, she heads to the wand registration point and gives a thin smile to the dumbly staring guard as she hands over her wand to be identified and registered.
"So… what brings you to the Ministry, Miss Potter?" the guard – Eric Munch – asks in what he wanted to be a casual tone.
"Oh, nothing much." Violet replies in a mischievous cheeriness. The predatory smile and the glowing eyes telling Eric exactly what her intentions were. "I merely woke up from the near death state the Ministry's incompetence put me through and decided this would be a good time to have a chat with the people responsible for that. The Minister's office is at Level 1, correct?"
"Y-Yes." Eric stutters.
"Excellent." Violet purrs as she takes back her wand and heads for the nearest elevator. By the time she reaches Level 1, all the gossipy Ministry workers in the floors above her are now aware that… Violet Potter is in the building and on a warpath. Nobody makes a move to interfere. That might have something to do with the low level Killing Intent the girl is consciously releasing as per Kaguya's instructions.
"Okay, I admit it. I had some reservations about this approach, but this is freaking hilarious." Violet admits as she watches from the corner of her eye how the few other people in the lift were shivering, practically gluing themselves to the wall in an attempt to distance themselves from her.
"No wonder so many evil wizards rely on terror tactics. With results like these, at least some of the stigma is worth it."
"Of course. What's the point of having great power if you let everyone, friend or foe, walk over you?" Kaguya asks in a wizened tone. "If you flaunt it every once in a while in an obvious way, even the most confident of your adversaries will hesitate to challenge you openly."
"Level 1 - Minister for Magic and Support Staff." a neutral voice announces as the doors open, allowing the elevator's only remaining occupant to walk out. Striding purposely down the corridor, she sends away the couple approaching with a glare burning with magic, the aura of killing intent she had around herself increasing in intensity as she borrowed a few of Lichfield's memories to fuel it. This ensured that everyone with even an ounce of self preservation retreated as their own mortality screamed at them to run. Of course, as wizards were generally lacking self-preservation due to having spells to fix almost anything short of death, as well as, to quote Lily Potter "Instead of common sense, wizards had magic", it was not entirely unexpected that most of the were slow enough in their retreat that Violet quickly caught them up with and left them in the dust.
The double doors of the Minister's office slam open hard enough to bang against the walls moments before a seriously pissed off Violet Potter prowls into said office, killing intent rolling off her as her eyes are burning like twin Avada Kedavra and her hair waving in an unseen wind.
Considering that even with the slight growth spurt granted by the Panacea as it fixed all her health problems, malnutrition included, she's just 5 feet tall, the fact that all three occupants seemed to at least gulp and break in cold sweat was quite the achievement.
"V-Violet, Miss Potter!" Fudge shakily greeted her. "I heard about what happened to you. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. I assure you that those responsible will be punished most severely. You have my full support in this!" he seems to catch a second wind as he pretty much bent like wet paper to whatever the hell Violet may want.
Pretty much what she expected from Dumbledore's memories.
"That's the best news I heard all day, Cornelius." Violet smiles widely, resembling a shark. "You see, I found out a few bits of information that narrows down the list of suspects considerably for who could be responsible for the attack on my person."
"You did?" a red haired woman wearing a monocle inquired.
"Indeed, Ms. …"Violet pauses and reels her killing intent back as she adopts an apologetic look "I'm sorry, I don't believe we were introduced."
"My name is Amelia Bones. I am the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." The Middle aged red-headed Woman replies and holds her hand to shake Violet's only to be taken by surprise when she gently holds her hand and formally curtsies.
"A pleasure to meet you Ms. Bones." Violet gives her a courteous smile as she backs away.
"And I am Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic." The toad-like woman clad in pink standing beside Fudge states in a self-important tone. Had she not known of her beforehand, she still would've instantly disliked her. As it was, her current dislike only grew accentuated with disgust.
"Good morning." Violet nods in what she wanted to look like a pleasant expression.
It resulted in something of a grimace, but it went over the toad woman's head as she had been on the receiving end of such for as long as she could remember.
"As was said, I've already narrowed down significantly the list of suspects." Violet gets the discussion back on track. "It's quite simple, actually. After all, the Ministry is in full control of the Dementors. 'The Dementors do what we tell them to." That, I believe is what you told Professor Dumbledore repeatedly when he disagreed with the Ministry's association with the creatures, isn't that right, Cornelius?"
"I… I suppose… but…" Fudge begins to sweat heavily.
"Now, if there was another Dark Lord around I suppose there could always be the possibility of him using some unknown Dark Magic to take control over the Dementors." Violet absently muses "But fortunately there isn't. As such, obviously the culprit is among the Ministry officials who have the authority to give orders to the Dementors."
"V-Violet, I would never…" Fudge pales further as he takes a step back, his pulse racing as panic begins to set in over the fear he had been feeling so far.
"Of course not, Cornelius." Violet gives him an encouraging smile. "You've been nothing but helpful to me and I'm sure that the order to place Dementors around Hogwarts was well intended, even if rather foolish. Rest assured, I place the entire blame on your advisers for such a decision." She allowed the man a few seconds to regain control over himself lest he loses control over his bladder. "I am also certain that it was not on your order that the Dementors stopped the Hogwarts Express and boarded it, correct?"
"Yes, that was Dolores' idea." Fudge quickly agrees.
"I see." Violet's eyes glares holes into the woman who was staring at her boss in shock and betrayal.
"So it was you who ordered my death." She hisses, a visible aura of magic appearing around her, shining bluish silver.
"W-What?" Umbridge screeches as she backs away "I would never…"
"You ordered the Dementors to stop the train, board it, seek out my compartment and give me the Dementor's Kiss." Violet growls in anger as she draws her wand causing Umbridge to scramble for her own. However, Violet did not turn her wand onto Umbridge. Instead, she pointed her wand at the palm of her left hand.
"Diffindo" She mutters, causing a thin cut to appear on her hand. Clenching her left fist, she allowed her blood to drip onto the marble floor.
"I, Violet Lilian Potter, Heir by Blood to the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell the Ancient House of Gryffindor, and by Right of Magical Conquest to the Ancient House of Slytherin, hereby declare Blood Feud on the House of Umbridge in response to her attempted assassination of my person! So I have said, so mote it be!"
As she finished, her silvery-blue aura increased further before disappearing while Umbridge's body flashed pink as she's bound into the spell as well.
"Y-You… You can't do this!" the toad woman screeches, anger coloring her terror-filled tone.
"I just did." Violet narrows her eyes at Dolores dangerously. "If you have any honor whatsoever left in your body, though I doubt it considering the assassination attempt, you will be down in the Ministry's Dueling Arena within the hour. I will be waiting." With that, she turns to leave the office.
"Ah, let me show you the way Miss Potter." the DMLE says as she follows Violet out the office.
"Thank you, that's much appreciated, Ms. Bones." Violet gives her a smile as they both walk out. "I'm afraid I don't know my way around the Ministry beyond what general information on the floors."
"It's my pleasure, Miss Potter." Amelia smiles thinly as the elevator doors close. "I also wanted to take the opportunity of asking you in private if you have lost your mind."
"Hm, I suppose that coming to the Ministry, entering the Minister's office and pretty much challenging his right hand toad-woman to what amounts to a duel to the death might give you that impression." Violet nods in understanding.
"So you do realize what you've done." She narrows her eyes at Violet in suspicion.
"Certainly more than you have, though I have full confidence you'll catch up soon enough." Violet smirks slightly and starts slowly skipping ahead of her.
"…You are quite different then what Susan described you as." Amelia looks at her curiously.
"After the experience that was my second year, I had quite a bit of growing up to do." Violet says in a wistful tone as she twists around for a moment to say "How much did your niece tell you about what happened last year at Hogwarts?"
"Not much." Amelia scowls something fierce. "I am aware that there were some attacks on several students that placed them in some sort of coma, and that at some point the Minister arrested the Groundskeeper and had him sent to Azkaban for a while, but beyond that nothing. Both Dumbledore and the Minister were quite tight-lipped about this."
"I suspected as much." Violet sighs. "What do you know about Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?"
"That legend?" Ms Bones frowns at her. "About Salazar Slytherin building a secret chamber in the castle and leaving a monster in it?"
"That one." Violet nods. "Turn's out, the legend is true. Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets under the lake, connecting to the castle through at least one tunnel. It remained hidden for so long because the entrances are guarded by spells that only allow the tunnel to open when a Parselmouth asks for it. Also, the monster was a Basilisk. About 60 feet long."
"…Was?" Amelia Bones says after processing the information for a few seconds.
"It's dead now. Dumbledore's phoenix blinded it and I got a lucky shot and pierced its brain through the roof of its mouth, killing it."
"You could have died!" Amelia exclaims in shock.
"Almost did." Violet pulls her sleeve up to reveal the faint scar that remained from the fang that pierced her arm, one of the two wounds on her body that had not disappeared after she had been administered the Panacea. "Damn thing bit me. But like I said, a friendly phoenix was on hand."
"Morgana's fucking tits…" she swears as she stares at the scar on the girl's arm. "And the culprit? Who opened the Chamber?"
"Well, it was more a matter of what rather than who." Violet scowls. "Apparently, Lichfield, who was the Heir of Slytherin by blood, enchanted a diary of his from his time at Hogwarts and left it in the care of Lucius Malfoy. Last summer, after Arthur Weasel passed the Mundane Protection Act, Lucius sneaked that diary amongst Ginny Weasel's school books. The thing fed on her magic the longer she wrote in it and eventually it began possessing her, leading to opening the Chamber on Halloween and making the basilisk attack several others afterwards. Eventually, it had enough power to manifest some sort of teenage copy of Lichfield and took Ginny down in the Chamber to finish the process. I went down there and killed the Basilisk and then destroyed the diary. Whatever protection may have been on the book, basilisk venom was not among the things it can withstand."
"And why has nobody brought this to my attention?" Amelia growls.
"Because we only have circumstantial evidence, which would not stand up in court against Lucius 'I was under the Imperius' Malfoy." Violet shrugs. "Dumbledore also knows about it, as do a couple of my school friends, but I saw no reason to spread it around since we can't do anything with it right now. On an entirely unrelated note, I may have overheard Draco Malfoy bragging that their important dark arts artifacts are hidden in a vault under their drawing room floor."
"I'll keep that in mind." Amelia smirks, committing that information to memory. "You also mentioned 'right now'."
"After this Dementor fiasco, I doubt our dear Minister will rely as much on Malfoy's council. I'm quite certain it was Malfoy's idea to issue a Kiss on Sight order for Sirius Black." Violet narrows her eyes.
"What makes you say that?" inquires Amelia.
"Because if Sirius dies, Draco Malfoy stands to inherit the Black estate… by blood, that is." answers Violet as they step out of the elevator at Level nine, the Department of Mysteries, before continuing their descent to Level ten using the stairs. "By will and by magic, things are of course different, I'm quite certain."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Sirius Black is my Godfather, sworn by blood & magic. As such whatever the Minister may believe, Black most certainly did not escape Azkaban so he could kill me. And despite what a good chunk of the world thinks, he also most certainly did not betray my parents to Lichfield, nor was he a Death Eater. Otherwise the oath he took would have killed him on the spot. I won't go as far to say that he's an innocent man, there was that thing with Pettigrew and the Mundane people he killed. Then again, apparently Sirius Black never had a trial and was sent straight to Azkaban without even a proper interrogation, when even the likes of the Lestranges got trials. Awfully convenient for Mister Malfoy, don't you agree?"
"Yes, very convenient." Amelia murmurs as she processes what the famous girl told her, deciding to look for the records of Sirius Black's trial, or verify the lack of such trial. "Well, here we are."
"The Ministry's Dueling Arena." Violet whispers. "I hope it's in decent condition."
"You didn't tell me why you're here to take down Umbridge." Amelia points out as she clears the security spells keeping the door locked shut. "And don't tell me it's because she tried to use the Dementors to assassinate you. I don't buy it."
"It's less about her, and more about attacks on my person getting unpunished." Violet narrows her eyes dangerously. "Like I was saying, there were several basilisk attacks last year. Thankfully no deaths since nobody had direct eye contact with the snake, but they were petrified. And when it was discovered that I am somehow a Parselmouth, guess who became the main suspect for most of the school?"
"You're a Parselmouth?" she asks in surprise.
"Heir of Slytherin by Right of Conquest, remember? When the Killing Curse rebounded and turned Lichfield's body to dust, I apparently absorbed some of his magic. Hence the Parseltongue. At any rate, despite there being plenty of proof that I was nowhere near any of the attacks, I was reviled by the entire school. Very few took my side even among the staff, so my eyes were wide open to what the Wizarding World really was."
"Oh?"
"A bunch of stupid sheep that follow whoever shouts louder or shows them something shiny." Violet spits out. "Sure, there are a respectable few that actually think for themselves rather than go with the flow or believe that rag the Daily Prophet like the word of God, but most of them keep their mouth shut due to peer pressure… like your niece, Susan, for example. She could tell that what her Hufflepuff classmates were saying was stupid and pretty much told them as much, but after a bit of pressure she shut up and went with the flow as well. I overheard them talking just before one of their own was attacked."
"I see..." she frowns and decides to send a letter to Susan soon. "The point you're getting to?"
"Ah, yes." Violet responds. "Why is Dumbledore so respected?"
"Why?" Amelia blinked. "Well, to start with he defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald."
"Precisely." Violet nods in satisfaction. "And yet while I'm credited with defeating Lichfield, people walk over me and attack me whenever an opportunity presents itself. Do you want me to tell you why?"
"Illuminate me." She asks sarcastically.
"Power and the willingness to use it." Violet says firmly. "Dumbledore went and trounced Grindelwald and then came back to Britain and smacked down the few upstart evil wizards that had the guts to confront him like they were nothing. He showed people that he's not someone to mess with despite his general kind and friendly attitude."
"You… you're using Umbridge as an example." Amelia realizes. "You're sending a message to people like Malfoy that you are not someone to be messed with."
"There's also the fact that Umbridge is a scourge to the Wizarding World with her blatant bigotry and blood purity ideology. The longer she's allowed to reign free like Fudge has in the past few years, the more damage she will do. She needs to be put down. The fact that she personally gave the order to the Dementors was convenient enough to take her down though." Violet shrugs in apathy to such violent bigotry. "It's also perfectly legal, so nobody can make any overt moves against me in response."
"What about indirect routes?" she points out.
"Like setting loose a thousand year old basilisk in the school I attend?" Violet shoots back dryly.
"Right. But like you say they did last year, people will consider you dangerous and an evil witch."
"Most people are sheep. Give them an excuse and they'll buy it easily." Violet reminds the red headed Woman before silently requesting silence before the following death match. They hear the sound of footsteps on stone as Umbridge and Fudge approach.
Soon enough, they enter the room, the toad woman sneering at her in hatred while Fudge looks anxious.
Violet raises her eyebrow. "So you didn't run away? How shocking."
"I'll make you regret challenging me, Potter." She spits out, apparently having gotten a heavy dose of courage while she was away from her… or a hit on the head.
"I already am. Being in your presence for even a second is making me throw up in disgust." Violet grimaces. "How Cornelius can stand you is a mystery. He must have a much stronger stomach than I do for hopelessly disgusting people like you."
"It's truly regrettable that it's come to this." Fudge fidgets in place after the meager cogs in his brain finally turned a revolution or two for the first time in a decade.
"Indeed, simply throwing her in Azkaban would not have been a proper solution. Not after Sirius Black just broke out there. And with how chummy she seems to be with Dementors, she might escape even quicker than he did." The intimidating girl reasons with the politician.
"If both participants of this duel are ready, take your places on the dueling platform. I will be acting as referee." Amelia declares and seconds later Violet and Umbridge are standing on the long platform while Fudge hurries to Amelia's side. The red haired woman erects the dueling shields through the runes carved around the platform and resumes her announcer voice
"On the count of three, you may begin. One. Two. Three!"
Immediately, Umbridge sends a Stupefy at Violet who side-steps it with ease, doing the same with the Reducto and Bombarda that follow, all the while walking at a leisurely pace towards her.
"You filthy half-blood!" Umbridge screeches "Crucio!" she snarls.
Violet raises her free left hand while activating the Rinnegan in her right eye, calling upon the Deva Path to use a blast of gravity to deflect the Torture Curse to the side while disguising it as a backhanded slap at the crimson beam of light.
"Im-Impossible!" Umbridge backs away in terror. "The Unforgivable Curses can't be blocked!"
"Tell that to Lichfield when you reach the other side of the Veil." Violet says coldly as she finally levels her wand at the bigoted witch.
"Protego Maxima!" Umbridge yelled, a large shimmering dome of magic appearing around her.
"Reducto Maxima." Violet incants as she pushes an amount of magic that warms her holly wand. A massive beam of bluish white light pierces through the shield like wet paper and hits Umbridge in the chest turning her torso into a crimson mist that settles over the platform, the dueling shield preventing the blood and atomized viscera from spreading over the rest of the floor.
"Acquio wand." Violet whispers and an eight inch birch bloodstained wand flies into her hand.
"Tergeo." She added and the blood was siphoned away.
"I, Violet Lilian Potter, declared the victory of the House of Potter over the House of Umbridge." She calls out and waits for a few seconds as magic pulses from her, looking for potential members of the House of Umbridge and finding none, before flashing silver.
"In accordance with the Old Laws, I hereby claim the possessions of House Umbridge as spoils." Another pulse of magic and it's over.
She knows that within minutes Umbridge's vault would be in her name, as would any properties and material wealth Umbridge has.
"Well, it's over." Amelia remarks, rather successfully hiding her shock as she removes the dueling shields. "Are you feeling alright, Miss Potter?" she inquires.
"I'll manage." Violet grimaces, only her tight control over her emotions keep her from emptying her stomach at the results of her first conscious kill, her second one overall. Regardless of what Dumbledore may say, Violet killed LichQuirrell even if she was using her mother's power to do it.
She was aware, though, that once she's alone she would have to let go of that tight control so that she may fully comprehend what she had done. Not yet, though, she still had things to do.
"Right." Amelia gives her an understanding look. "Netty!"
POP*
"Yess, Boss Lady?" a house elf, a female if he was not mistaken, appeared at Amelia's side.
"Please bring Miss Potter a Calming Draught." She orders her elf and immediately Netty goes
POP*
a few seconds later,
POP*
The elf is handing Violet a potion bottle.
"Thank you." Violet says gratefully before downing it all in one gulp before handing back the empty bottle to the elf that left immediately after.
"So, do you have anything planned for today?" Amelia asks sarcastically.
"Just one thing at the Ministry." Violet nods as she turns towards Fudge who was staring ashen faced at the puddle that had been his Undersecretary. "Cornelius." She says, causing the man to jump.
"Y-Yes?" the man stutters.
"I want you to know that I do not hold you responsible in the least for all this unpleasantness." Violet smiles, putting more than a few of the man's fears to rest. "I do hope, however, that her successor as your Undersecretary will not be as corrupt as Umbridge, nor as abusive with the power that comes with the position. Like a wise man once said: 'With great power, comes great responsibility'."
"Yes, yes, quite right." Fudge quickly nods.
"I also hope you will not trust advisers so much as those that suggested placing vile creatures like Dementors around a school full of children." Violet continues, her emerald eyes burning with power, making Fudge gulp. "After all, even if they obey your orders and stay around the school boundaries, their very presence is quite detrimental to the growth of the students. I can only imagine the Howlers you would receive from angry parents if their children were traumatized by the Dementors…"
"I've already received quite a few after you were attacked, Violet." Fudge sighs.
"That's quite unfortunate." Violet says while internally cheering at the man's misery. "Why don't you and I drop by the Daily Prophet's offices so that we can give a short interview? The public would like to know that it was not the whole Ministry that was responsible for the attack, merely a rotten apple that has already been discovered and punished."
"That's a splendid idea, Miss Potter!" Fudge instantly cheers up, the possibility of good press washing away his earlier worries.
"I shall come along as well, as I also witnessed the duel." Amelia speaks up, wanting to see how far Violet is going to milk this.
An hour later, Violet finds herself shaking hands with Garrick Ollivander, in the process sucking down as much of his magic as she can without being obvious about it. As she does so, however, she detects a certain 'flavor' to the old man's magic and can tell the man senses it from her as well.
"Well, well, I was right when I said that we should expect great things from you, Miss Potter." Ollivander remarks as he looks Violet in the eye in wonder. "As the Mundane phrase says: Welcome to the club."
"…You really have been making wands since 382 B.C." Violet says in shock as she processed the bare surface of the memories she gained from the man's magic.
"That I have, though admittedly not in the form they are now." Ollivander confirms. "That sign is a bit of a misnomer: it was Merlin who came up with the idea of a wizard's focus being a wand, a relatively fragile stick that's easy to conceal and draw when needed. Before that, large ornate staves were rather popular. Also, it was Merlin who had the idea of placing the core within the focus entirely. Before that, most foci either did not have cores and relied on carved runes to channel the wizard's magic, or had the core attached on the outside, usually a gem of some sort."
"That's fascinating." admits Violet. "Well, since you know so much about wands, I was hoping–"
"Soak your wand in your own blood for an hour every other week." Ollivander cuts her with a whisper. "That will both fully reconnect you with the wand and strengthen it to handle the increasingly stronger magic you will channel through it in the future."
"Ah, thank you." Violet smiles and sighs in relief. "Out of curiosity, was Flamel the last person before me who came to you to ask that?"
"Ah, you've already realized Nicholas' secret, eh?" Ollivander chuckles.
"I somehow doubt he was so willing to let Dumbledore destroy the Philosopher's Stone if he and his wife's lives actually depended on it." Violet says, admitting her realization. "Before I thought that they probably made another Stone… but then I realized that maybe they were not depending on it in the first place."
Before Ollivander could reply, a serious looking Albus Dumbledore storms into the store, instantly facing the girl of the prophecy.
"Violet, we need to talk."