Chapter 322: Wilted Ruby

16th May 2013, Sayre Manor

(Wanda Maximoff POV)

Jean looked pensive, "Ever since I met her, she has been obsessed with the fight against Entropy. She's giving it her all, and I can tell that. This is probably another of her antics trying to think of the bigger picture or something like that."

"Jean, I'm serious here. I can feel that something is wrong."

Jean shrugged, "If it makes you feel any better, I suppose we could go to Britain and ask Rose. But if she kicks us out, or if she's too busy, you'll be the one explaining about your little hunch. I still think that it's probably nothing and that you're just missing Jasmine. But it's your mother, so I guess I can understand your worry."

Wanda was relieved by her girlfriend's acceptance to go to Britain. She ran and enveloped the redhead in a hug, "Thanks for understanding. You're the best girlfriend ever."

Jean gave her a cheeky smirk, "Remember that when it's my turn to ask you for a weird favor."

Wanda snorted as Jean waved her arms and opened a portal. The two women walked inside and appeared in a deserted alley in Britain. Wanda was going to get answers and Rose was the key to it.

They arrived in London, right next to the infamous Leaky Cauldron, the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley. They entered the pub and asked to have access to the alley. When Wanda waved her hand to activate the gate, the sight before them surprised them both.

Wanda couldn't help but gasp in shock at the state of the alley. There was none of the colorful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients, and cauldrons. Instead, there were Ministry posters about keeping calm and that rioting will result in a prison sentence. Most of the stores were empty, with their windows boarded up, and their lights turned off. It honestly looked miserable.

Diagon Alley wasn't supposed to be like this. According to Rose and Jasmine, the place was supposed to be a lively street, with stores open all around, each selling magical artifacts, pets, or ingredients. You should be able to see magic all around you as you walk down the alley, and yet all that remained was a few rundown stores, and beggars and con artists with illegal stalls all over the street.

Jean's eyes were wide at the sight, "I knew things were bad, but this is just depressing. No wonder Rose didn't answer us."

Wanda nodded, "This is supposed to be a place of wonder, of magic. What the hell happened here? As far as I know, only a dozen of influential people died, not the entire government."

The redhead shook her head, "Something else is afoot. I can feel it. We need to talk to Rose."

Wanda nodded, "Can you track her more easily now?"

The Avatar of the Phoenix Force put a lot of time and effort into mastering her telepathy. Her sensing range was almost global in a way, but there was just too much information to get a precise location. But if she restricted herself to only one city, she could pinpoint the location of anyone with scary accuracy. Only people capable of heavily occluding their minds could trick her, and Rose for all her skills and magic, was just not powerful enough to trick Jean, even with her occlumency. Although Jean still hadn't perfected mental manipulation on such a scale or distance. She could do it on a city wide range, but she's a lot less precise with it. Thankfully, her telekinesis didn't have such a range for precise manipulation as well, because if she did, she could easily become a warlord and take over a country, without anyone knowing, and that was terrifying.

Jean's mind sense was why they went to Diagon Alley in the first place. Well, anywhere in London would have worked, but Wanda had never visited the magical district of England, and she wanted to take a look. Sadly it ended up being such a bummer.

The redhead closed her eyes and focused, and after a few minutes, she spoke up, "She's in Godric's Hollow. Her parents aren't there, so we can go see her."

Wanda nodded and they both walked to another alley, created a portal, and left the alley. They both appeared in what seemed like a small village. Godric's Hollow was a very odd place, a mixture of a magical town that's connected to a Mundane one. Mages and humans walked side by side, sometimes in the same community, and Wanda knew that if it wasn't for Jasmine's mist, the Statute of Secrecy would have broken years ago because of some accidental magic some kid would do.

Still, both women walked towards a small cottage. It was a quaint place, homely. Wanda liked it a lot. Jean knocked on the door, and both of them waited for Rose to answer.

The witch opened the door seconds later, and with wide eyes exclaimed, "Wanda, Jean, it's been such a long time."

Rose enveloped them in a hug and invited them to come in. Flabbergasted by the greeting, they entered the room, and immediately noticed the smell of alcohol in the living room. There were a few bottles lying around, and Rose was obviously drunk from the way she was swaying while walking.

Jean, who was the polite one out of the two of them, spoke up, "Yes, Rose. We missed you, so we came to see you."

Wanda nodded, "Right…"

Rose giggled, "You gals are a riot. So, what's been happening?"

Putting aside her confusion by Rose's response, Wanda replied, "We're doing great. What about you, Rose? You don't look great, honey."

Again, Rose let out a giggle, but there was a bitter edge to it this time, "I'm just dandy. I'm all alone in the world now. My parents are dead, my brother is dead, and well, I don't know what to do with my life now."

Wait, what? What was going on? Jasmine would have said anything if something had happened to the Potters, especially if it would have affected her precious sister this badly. Jean seemed to come to the same conclusion and wanted to dig further, "I'm sorry for your loss, Rose. We didn't know that something happened. If we did, we would have come at once. We're sorry for not being there."

Rose sniffled, "It wasn't your fault. Just the stupid Court of Shadows and the idiots that chose to exterminate them without even thinking about the consequences for the rest of us."

"Rose, you're not making a lot of sense now. What's the Court of Shadows exactly?" Wanda asked.

"Just some stupid Illuminati wannabe for the magical world. The British branch tried to kidnap me. They threatened my brother's family, you see, and obviously, he cared for them more than me, and was more than happy to give me up. They wanted me to be their weapon, to teach them Jasmine's magic. Well, the joke's on them, Hermione, my brother's right-hand woman chose to betray everyone in a sacrificial ritual that backfired. In the end, I was alone, and everyone was dead. Nathan, Hermione, the entire Court didn't survive, just me. And then some idiot chose to kill all the members all over the world, at once. Thousands died at the same moment. The ICW is still scrambling around to try to find who did it. My parents were caught in a riot in France. They didn't make it. So, here I am, alone without any family left except a sister-in-law that doesn't want to see me because she thinks I killed Nathan and her children who are practically strangers to me."

Jean walked towards the sobbing witch and gave her a hug, "Oh honey. Everything is going to be okay."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked meekly.

"Of course, I am," Jean responded.

After Rose calmed down slightly, Wanda couldn't help but ask, "So, why are things so bad in Britain? We went to Diagon Alley, and it was seriously bad."

Rose nodded, "It's not just Britain. It's practically the entire magical world. The Shadows had their fingers in a lot of pies. They had most of the businesses in their pockets, and them dying at once caused a global economic collapse. The Goblins had to limit the amount of gold allowed to leave a vault every month. Their businesses just closed; the unemployment rate skyrocketed soon after. The entire economy was built on a knife's edge, managed by a few elite families. But all of them dying at once, with no one truly understanding the scope of their operation, it was just too much. Things toppled and everything went to shit."

"And what are you doing about it?" Jean asked.

Rose looked confused, "Why is that my problem?"

Startled by the reply, Wanda responded "Jasmine gave you the responsibility of taking care of the magical world, didn't she? Although, I have my doubts that you could do it alone. She'll probably have to deal with it herself, or at least lend a hand."

Rose frowned, "What does my dead sister have to do with anything, Wanda?"

Wait a minute, what the hell was she on about, "Jasmine, the Morrigan, your sister. You're her heir, remember, at least in magical matters. She divided her responsibilities between us."

Rose glared at her, her voice getting more heated, "This is cruel, Wanda. My sister died in Hogwarts when she was fourteen. You're disrespecting her memory."

Both Jean and Wanda stiffened. They looked at each other, eyes wide and the redhead spoke carefully, "tell me something, Rose. What do you know about the words Selene, Ragnarök, and Morrigan."

Rose's scowl didn't lessen, but she was obviously taken aback by the question, "Selene, I guess she's the Titan of the moon in Greek mythology. Ragnarök is the Asgardian version of the Apocalypse, and the Morrigan is the Celtic deity of Death. Why are you asking me about old myths?"

This was very disturbing, "Rose, what can you tell me about your sister?"

The witch's frown turned into a wistful smile, "She was amazing, a prodigy like no other. I only met her for a year, but she accepted me even after our parents abandoned her so long ago. She even left a portrait of herself to me, in case something happened. It taught me how to perfect my magic, but it was destroyed long ago in an accident. She died at Dumbledore's hand, after showing the world, the monster that he truly was."

Wanda sent a telepathic message to Jean, 'How can she forget about Jasmine?'

Jean responded, 'I don't know but I'm not seeing any kind of obvious mental manipulation here. It's like whatever happened to her was fully ingrained in her psyche. Her memories are not fogged or altered in any way. I don't think that anyone would be able to do something this detailed without leaving a single trace, most of all in such a short amount of time. You'd need years, maybe even decades, to change that many memories on an unwilling subject.'

This didn't bode well at all. Rose was a decent enough mind mage. Defensive mind magics had never really been her strong suit, but it was enough to protect her from most attackers. She did excel in offensive mind magic and putting suggestions in other people's heads.

Still, this was proof that something was very wrong. Jasmine was away, Selene had disappeared, and Rose was brainwashed somehow. They needed answers, as quickly as possible. Honestly, Wanda was tempted to just leave the drunk Rose to her own devices and keep looking for Jasmine. But one look at the vulnerable desperate woman in front of her, pitifully swaying and sobbing at her misery just broke her heart.

With a resolute expression on her face, Wanda stayed still and kept trying to cheer up the depressed and grieving witch. Jasmine was still off world, and they could get their answers from her after she returned. But for now, they really needed to take care of their friend, brainwashed or not. After all, they were family, and if there was something that Wanda treasured, it was family.

As usual, I generally post four chapters a week, on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. (The month is over, so I'm going back to the usual schedule)

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