Chapter 261: Roses and Violets

9^th February 2013, Sayre Manor

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I ended up sending Rose to deal with the court months ago, as a small test. I will admit that the situation was very complicated and required a delicate touch, but it didn’t seem to be working at all, considering that I lost contact in the American branch of the court for some reason.

In contrast, Wanda and Jean were doing very well under Emma Frost’s leadership in Genosha, so I could afford to focus on the wizarding world for a bit since Rose seemed out of her depth. Thor could use some time off training for a few days until I deal with this mess.

I nodded to Selene, “You have a point. I’ll go check out on how Rose is doing and decide how to proceed with this.”

It was later in the afternoon that I decided to teleport back to Britain to see Rose’s progress on the situation at hand. I tracked her down to Diagon Alley, in a small restaurant, eating by herself. Well, not exactly. She wasn’t by herself; there were over ten mages observing her carefully, probably agents of the Court of Shadows.

The moment I took a look at her, I was immediately concerned. She looked tired, exhausted even. How could that have happened? I was sure that in a mission like this, Rose would thrive and not be intimidated by the daunting task. Even now, she looked like she hasn’t had a good night sleep in a week. She looked thinner, like she hasn’t been taking care of herself properly. I need to know what happened, what caused all this change.

Worried, I slowly morph my features to resemble that of a brunette with black eyes, and slowly walk towards my sister and speak to her, “Do you mind if I join you?”

At first, I could see the confusion in her eyes; she hadn’t recognized me under the disguise, so I send her a small telepathic message to elaborate on my identity.

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before nodding, offering me the chair in front of them. I wave my hand and create a privacy bubble, stopping our observers from eavesdropping on our conversation. We looked at each other for a minute before Rose broke the silence, “So, why the disguise?”

I give her an incredulous look, “You do realize that you’re being watched by at least a dozen people, right? Plus, ever since the Court revealed my survival and that the Daily Prophet published that blasted article, everyone’s been looking for a sign of me.”

Rose turned around, “I noticed a few of them, but not all. Do you have any idea who are my watchers or who sent them?”

I shrugged, “I assume that they were sent by the Court of Shadows.”

Truthfully, I was a bit disappointed in how Rose was handling the situation. The fact that she was undisguised in the middle of Diagon Alley while there being an unspoken manhunt on me, she had to expect that she would be followed constantly. I don’t understand why she even showed that she returned to the country. The people were probably hassling her for information about me.

Rose sighed, exasperated, “Yeah, I thought so. Damn that Hermione.”

I raised an eyebrow, “What happened?”

“When you asked me to handle the Court issue, I went to Nathan for help first, to see if he could bring them to light, and expose them, as the Minister of Magic. The public would have taken care of the rest. But he wouldn’t go for it; he said that I had no evidence, so, of course, he went to Hermione Granger for advice. She got him to back down and told him that she’ll try to find her evidence herself. Afterwards, Nathan kinda dismissed me and asked me to find another place to live in while I deal with the issue, since he didn’t want to involve his family in the matter and put them in danger. I was followed around ever since. I tried disguising myself and everything, but they could always find me as long as I was in Britain.”

I stifled a groan; Damn, Nathan was incompetent. It wasn’t even funny. Rose going for his help in the first place was a bad idea, especially with how obviously involved Granger is in the Court. And the idiotic minister that was my former twin brother, gave all the information Rose told him on a platter in front of the Court, trusting that his childhood friend was just ‘taking care of it’.

The Muggleborn Undersecretary was obviously playing her own angle, hoping that by the end of it, whoever the victor, she would have progressed her cause further. It kinda reminded me of Severus Snape for a while, before I broke his mind, that is. I wonder if he’s still alive, somewhere.

I looked at my sister’s concerned gaze, “I do not need to tell you that asking for your brother for help was a bad move. The Court now knows that you’re hunting them because of Granger, which means that they know that I am aware of their existence. You jeopardized the entire plan before you even got started. Even if it had worked and Nathan had revealed their existence, the Court is still made up of the most politically and economically influential wizards and witches in the country. It would have either not affected them, or it would have destabilized the entire political landscape and maybe would have cause a recession. You need to think things through, Rose, especially when the consequences are this dire. But what’s done is done, and I will not keep berating you for something that you obviously know was a mistake. So, instead, tell me, assuming that the Court knows that the both of us are going against them, what’s next? What are you planning to do now?”

Rose looked down, “I’m still working on it. I can barely do anything while I’m constantly being observed. And there’s nothing I could do to avoid them. They always find me, no matter how hidden and disguised I am.”

I looked pensive for a moment, “That sounds an awful lot like scrying. Did you try to block it?”

“Yeah, it was my first thought too. I wore an anti scrying amulet, but they still found me nevertheless.”

“And do they still find you when you leave the country?”

She shook her head, “I went to France for a day, and they didn’t find me at all. It was the most relaxing day I had ever since I returned here.”

I hummed, this was a bit interesting, “Oh, I get it now. It’s pretty clever. So, they’re not scrying for you actively, so there’s nothing for the amulet to block, in the first place. They either have a large, gigantic ward that detects the magical signatures of all the residents in the country, or they are scrying for the ambient magic you release, meaning that every time you cast a spell, they would be able to find it. Even more than that, mages release some magic with every breath they take, which means that they would be able to find you anywhere. I’m not sure which one is true, but you should be safe in a place that has anti scrying wards to protect you before we disable the magics that they used to track you down.”

If I was honest, Rose’s performance was disappointing on this assignment. I knew that this particular test was delicate, especially compared to what Jean and Wanda were doing. But Rose was older, more experience, and honestly didn’t expect her to solve it entirely on her own, but I at least expected her to get something right. But all she did, in the end, was to reveal her position, lost the element of surprise and pretty much put up a target on her family’s back. Everything she did was wrong, every move she made was a mistake, and now, it was up to me to clean her mess.

Still, I could find a way to turn this into a teaching moment, “Look at me, Rose. I know you’re disappointed in yourself, and that’s perfectly understandable because everyone makes mistakes, even me. I have made more errors than anyone alive on this planet, but I have learnt a lesson from every single one of my failures, and you should too. No one is perfect and I don’t expect you to be the first. Learn from this, so that you wouldn’t repeat it in the future. You learn more from failure than from success. So, tell me, what did you learn from this?”

She looked pensive for a moment before answering, “I shouldn’t be impulsive and think things through before I do them…”

I nodded at her, “Yes, going straight to Nathan, was foolish and reckless. You needed to assess the situation first, observe him and his relationships, and then watch them in turn. Find out their loyalties, and only then decide if he’s trustworthy enough to ask for help. Additionally, you didn’t even take into account your brother’s meekness. He hasn’t been decisive ever since my supposed sacrifice, and Voldemort’s demise. He found himself with no mentor, no enemies, and with a dead twin. He had no idea what to do, so he let Granger lead him around, something that she keeps doing to this day. You should have expected that he would ask his friend to take care of things for him and listen to her suggestions in the first place. Now, tell me, what else have you learnt?”

She sounded hesitant this time, “I shouldn’t have hoped to destroy them with the media?”

“Not exactly. The media, the public opinion, is a powerful weapon, but can only be used by people who are affected by it in the first place. Targeting the richest and the most powerful with accusations would have either done nothing or it would have cause riots. Some things, young Rose, are better dealt with using discretion, not open warfare.”

Oh, how true that is. I have, in the course of my long life, gotten rid of most of my enemies without anyone even realizing it. I tried to do my best to avoid causing too much chaos. Believe it or not, the idea of a super secret manipulative organizations is not a new one. There had been hundreds of Hydras, thousands of Courts of Shadows, over the centuries, and the most common thing they had is that they wished for power without being in the spotlight, and that made it easier to get rid of them without creating too much of a fuss. In the end, they were created in the shadows, and they died in the shadows, forgotten to the annals of history. Even, I barely even remember most of them.

Rose nodded, “So, what now?”

“Now, dear sister, it’s time for me to take the reins, so to speak. Since we don’t have the element of surprise, and that unmasking them would cause more problems than it would solve, the best way to deal with them is to be direct. It seems that they wanted my attention. Well, now, they have it. Let’s see how they deal with it, shall we.”

I took another look at my sister and almost winced, “We’ll start tomorrow, but as for now, you will go take a night’s rest while I try to figure out when the next meeting of the Court of Shadows will take place. And eat properly, I don’t like how thin you’re getting.”

Rose nodded with a slight smile on her face and teleported away, probably to wherever she was staying at. I paid the bill for Rose’s meal and decided to walk around Diagon Alley for a bit before I start getting to work. As I ventured into the alley, I noticed that some of Rose’s followers diverged and were now looking at me.

Well, who am I to refuse when my enemy gives me such a boon for my search. This should prove to be interesting at the very least.

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