Chapter 252: Plans Upon Plans

7^th October 2012, Malfoy Manor

(Hermione Granger POV)

They would undoubtedly go after her, and Hermione didn’t know how that would go. The court was powerful and influential, but Jasmine Potter was just on another level, and she seems pretty peaceful, doing her own thing, whatever the hell that was. Having the Court going after her would cause wars, and nothing but chaos, something that Hermione often tried to avoid as it caused a lot of complications down the line. But then again, Chaos was a ladder, and while they would be preoccupied with Jasmine Potter, Hermione would try to further her agenda.

In the end, the muggleborn witch had no choice in the matter either way; she could not hide something like this from the Court, especially when she was asked details this explicitly.

Sighing, Hermione nodded, “Yes, while we don’t know the identity of the man who perished, we do know the identity of the woman. She was revealed to be Jasmine Potter, the sister to Rose Potter and Nathan Potter.”

Her proclamation shocked the entire court, and Hermione took some pleasure in seeing the impassive Roxanne Greengrass lose her impassive face and gape at the muggleborn witch.

Hermione watched transfixed as the most powerful group in magical Britain acted no better than first years in Hogwarts. It really was funny. A few gaped, some gasped and swore, but in the end, if she had to put it into one word, it would be that they were flabbergasted by what the muggleborn witch just said.

Because Jasmine Potter was a bullet that they thought that they had dodged by the skin of their teeth. The magical potential that she represented could change the political landscape of not just Britain, but the entire continent of Europe. They thought themselves lucky to not have to deal with a witch of her caliber, rumored to rival Merlin himself in power and skill, and they had celebrated her loss, with that of Voldemort and Dumbledore, which happened in the same week.

On the day of the third task, everything went the council’s way. Every single magical Titan that wasn’t completely neutralized had died. Dumbledore and Jasmine got themselves killed, Riddle died by Nathan’s hand, and for the first time in a century, everything had gone back to the way things should be.

And yet it hadn’t. Jasmine Potter was alive, and nothing could change that. People just didn’t understand how dangerous magical Titans could be. Power attracts power, and whether the Titan in question was a dark wizard or not, they brought change. Without even trying, they attracted followers, their ideas were heard and often taken as gospel. Their mere presence presented an active threat to the stability of the country.

At first, Hermione had thought that the practice was barbaric, a way to cripple their own magical power in the international scene but considering that the Court of Shadows spread to almost every single nation, then everyone was weakened equally, meaning that there will be no imbalance of power in the international scheme. And it’s not like they killed the children who had the potential to become magical Titans. They just gave them a few potions that restricted the growth of their magic during their schooling. It was harmless, and an understandable sacrifice in the name of peace and order.

The entire court stayed silent for an entire minute, no one daring to break the silence, before Roxanne Greengrass decided to talk, “And how long have you known about Potter’s survival?”

Her tone was accusing, and Hermione could see that the woman wanted to use this information to get the court to target her as well. Greengrass was one of the few left that opposed Hermione’s reforms that presented an active threat to them. The Greengrass’ hold on the international trade made them one of the most powerful families in the country.

Masking her hesitation, the muggleborn witch replied, “I just got to know about her when I investigated the battle that happened a few days back. I had no prior indication that she had survived her duel with Albus Dumbledore.”

Hermione would have probably been in trouble if not for the truth field in the room. It was a handy little ward that was set up in every single meeting. It was a way to ensure that the backstabbing politics were left outside the court. It also prevented any kind of violence and betrayal from taking place, petrifying anyone who has the intent to hurt another member of the council the moment they decided to act on that intent.

If this was the Wizengamot, then Hermione would have needed a lot of time and magical oaths, probably truth serums and mind magics as well, to show her innocence to the world, but in here, all it took was a statement and everyone relaxed, understanding that there wasn’t a traitor in their midst.

This time, Draco Malfoy was the one who spoke up, “As far as you know, who knew about Potter’s survival?”

“The only one who knew of her survival from the beginning was Rose Potter, who kept learning under her sister for a few years after Hogwarts. Outside of this, James, Lily, and Nathan Potter found out about it a few months ago when Jasmine visited them at Rose’s behest.”

“Did they say how she survived?” Elphias Doge asked.

Hermione shook her head, “No. All I know is that she had planned on faking her death all along.”

Truth be told, Hermione had no idea how she managed it. It was probably a mix of an illusion and a transfigured target. And considering that it was a disintegration curse that was used by Dumbledore, there was no body to examine. It was, without a doubt a perfectly executed plan to both out Dumbledore and fake her death.

It was probably the best thing she could have done for herself; the Ministry under Fudge would have loved nothing more than pinning the entire fiasco on her or they would have tried to bind her to magical Britain somehow. And that’s not even mentioning the complications that the court would have sent her way to keep her busy and out of trouble.

It was how they neutered Albus Dumbledore. When he revealed himself as the Titan he was, they used his public support to give him meaningless titles and professions such as his job in the Wizengamot or in the ICW, which would take up too much of his time for him to really start being dangerous. Adding in the idiotic laws that went against his ideology, they tried to pass in front of him, Albus Dumbledore was kept trying to navigate the political landscape stopping one fire after another. It was so effective that the man barely even acted as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, with Minerva McGonagall taking up the slack in his stead. Of course, this didn’t end up stopping him from seeking his mad quest of magical unification through a common enemy – which in this case was Voldemort, in the end, but it did delay the man immensely.

Marcus Gamp spoke up, “It doesn’t matter how she faked her death; it’s already done. We need to decide on a way to proceed. What are her ambitions, her goals?”

Hermione really didn’t know how to answer that question. When she met the witch in question, she hadn’t even gotten a single clue on what the hell Jasmine Potter wanted. The woman was just dismissive of magical Britain in general; she said that she dealt with bigger things than the magical world, something that cannot be true since wizards and witches were the most powerful beings on the planet, no matter what the so called ‘Homo Superior’ wanted to say.

With that in mind, Hermione needed to answer Gamp’s question and the entire council was looking at her expectantly. The muggleborn witch sighed in resignation and replied, “I don’t know.”

Pandemonium ensued. Lords and Ladies started to yell until Malfoy let out a boom. When things quieted, he asked, “How can you not know what her ambitions are?”

“I met her after the battle when Nathan asked her to explain herself. She said that she dealt with bigger issues than the magical world. She didn’t seem concerned about any retaliation from us. As far as I understand from Rose, she doesn’t interfere with the magical world if it isn’t something that could threaten the entirety of the planet, or if someone chooses to involve her somehow. As far as we’re concerned, she doesn’t care about any of us.”

Stunned silence followed and Hermione understood why that happened. Magical Titans never just decided not to involve themselves in political matters. They always had agendas, plans, be it good or evil, selfish or kind, they were agents of change and chaos.

Greengrass broke the silence once more, “You can’t believe that. She was obviously misleading you.”

Hermione shook her head, “I was there, and I felt a fraction of her presence. If she wanted anything, she would have just come in one day and taken it. You saw her duel with the mystery man. That wasn’t a normal fight between two wizards, even the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald wasn’t even close to being this destructive. I believe her because the balance of power is so drastically in her favor that she doesn’t need to lie.”

Horace Slughorn spoke up calmly, “Maybe that’s true, but we cannot just wait with a threat like Jasmine Potter over our heads. For over two centuries, the Court of Shadows has maintained the order in the magical world, and it is our duty to continue to do so, no matter the danger. We have dealt with far more dangerous foes than that witch, Tom Riddle posed a far larger problem than she did.”

Many members of the court nodded, and Hermione interjected, “I will keep telling you that Jasmine Potter is not a normal witch even by magical Titan standards. We need a lot more information before we can plan anything.”

Roxanne Greengrass snorted, “We’re not planning on dueling her, Granger.”

Hermione sneered, “You infiltrated Voldemort’s Death Eaters and Dumbledore’s Order of the Phoenix, you’ve played on their ambitions to steer them your way. What are you planning to do when your target doesn’t have any followers and you don’t know where they live?”

The Greengrass matriarch had a smug look on her face, “But you have told us that she is rather close to Rose Potter.”

Hermione shook her head, “If you’re expecting Rose to betray her sister, then you’ll be sorely disappointed. That’s not even mentioning that we’ve been trying to find the girl for years.”

Slughorn spoke up once more, “What about her parents? Lily Potter was a student of mine; I could convince her to keep tabs on Jasmine for me.”

“Again, Jasmine doesn’t care about either of her parents, nor her brother for that matter. You’re all trying to involve her in Britain in an attempt to control her. You won’t, all it would do is give you her attention, and I don’t have to tell you how bad of an idea that is.”

Malfoy thundered, “That’s enough, Granger. You have made your point. However, we cannot leave someone with that kind of power outside of our control. We need a plan.”

Theodore Nott spoke up, “I have an idea. After the reveal of Dumbledore and the confirmation of the existence of the Deathly Hallows, I have begun investigating the Peverell family and after years of searching, we discovered the tomb of the second brother who had a diary containing the ritual they used to summon and bind Death to their will. After studying it and refining it to work on mortals as well, I now have a weapon to give to the Court to control the magical Titans that we miss. I was not planning on revealing this if the situation wasn’t dire, but I believe that we could use this ritual to summon Jasmine Potter to us and bind her to the Court of Shadows.”

At the approving and impressed looks that the rest of the court was giving Nott, Hermione knew that there was nothing she could do to stop their course of actions. The muggleborn sighed in defeat but at least there was a silver lining. If Jasmine doesn’t kill Hermione for this, then the chaos that would inevitably happen when the Court decides to oppose Jasmine, would allow the muggleborn to further her own agenda. After all, Chaos was a ladder, and Hermione was more than ready to take risks to get closer to her dream of an equal magical Britain.

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