Do You Fear Death?

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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9th February 2013, Malfoy Manor

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I snorted, "Look, I know you're all impressive and everything, but I don't think that you can do anything to force me to obey you, and even less that could kill me."

Roxane Greengrass gave me a foxy smug grin, "I'm so glad you said that. Didn't I say that we have other ways to enforce our will? There are always weaknesses for us to exploit and you are no different."

I didn't understand what she was talking about until the door opened and a man I did not recognize entered alongside Nathan. I didn't even have time to process what he was doing here, when I noticed the suitcase that they were levitating behind them.

I watched, transfixed as the case opened and released a bound figure. She was wearing a collar which had chains around her arms and feet, who were filled with glowing runes. I recognized the familiar red hair and the frightened hazel eyes that the prisoner had. This was Rose, my sister, my successor. The Court had imprisoned and bound my sister.

Pure hot rage passed through me. It felt like it could burn me, like it could burn the entire world. I probably could, to be honest, but it was odd. I looked at the smug looking Court members, so assured of their victory.

I made sure to keep my expression to be as stony as possible, not showing a hint of the anger I felt course through me. From the outside, I probably looked like a statue, looking at the bound form of my sister and successor, but inside, a storm was brewing, ready to escape at a moment's notice to kill the pathetic little mortals that dared to touch my sister. I barely contained my anger, and yet I did not repress it entirely. I didn't want to.

What a curious feeling. My mastery of the mind arts had allowed me supreme control over my own mind meaning that I don't feel an intense emotion unless I do not wish to. Anger was always such a toxic yet necessary emotion, it could destroy people so easily, and I always made a point to keep it under control. And yet, here I am, ready to give up my control just to satisfy my blood lust, my revenge on the people who dared bind my little sister.

I looked at Roxanne Greengrass' smug smile and wanted to strangle her. She spoke up, "As you can see, Miss Potter, you forgot one simple thing, leverage. It's so easy to control people when you have something that they treasure, and remarkable as you are, you are not different, Jasmine Potter."

I stare at her, blankly, making her feel uncomfortable. They probably expect me to rage, to yell out threats, and yet I do nothing. A shame really, I'm going to enjoy breaking them for what they have done. I will break them, torture them until they know nothing but pain and misery, perhaps I should just kill them and be done with it, stability of magical Britain be damned. They hurt my sister, used her own brother to do so.

Speaking of her brother, I decide to look at the worm, and raise and eyebrow. Nathan flinched the moment our eyes met, and started babbling, "I'm sorry, Jasmine. I didn't mean to. I had no choice. I'm so sorry…"

I let the coward mumble away and I just realized that this was the true Nathan Potter, underneath it all. It was a shame; he had so much potential to change the world for the better, and yet he squandered it leaving everything for his Undersecretary to deal with, trusting her with too much power, giving her too much control.

This sniveling worm who was still stammering in apology had reminded me eerily of Peter Pettigrew. This thing was the minister of magic in magical Britain. They called this era the golden age of magical Britain, and here was the proof that it was just an illusion, an image. To think that such a coward was born my twin brother.

I had more or less filtered out the man's pathetic rambling in my musing and I decide to pay attention to the man once more, "I'm sorry, they have my family, Tracy, the kids. I had no choice."

So, they kidnapped his family. I guess I could understand that, but he really should have done something other than betray his own sister. Like actually telling Rose what happened, and she alone could have brought them back.

All this time, I did not say a single word, something that the court had noted. The man sitting next to Greengrass, spoke up, "Nothing to say?"

He looked like a Shafiq. He had the tanned skin and silver hair to be one. I did not answer his question. It would serve no purpose. They were dead men walking even if they didn't know it yet. I am a very patient person. I have suffered too much in this cursed life of mine to be able to whether any pain. It just felt numb, now. But there are some lines you do not cross. In every lifetime, I make connections, either by getting apprentices, or even just friends. They kept me grounded in my long life, and someone hurting them is an easy ticket to a long and painful death.

Elphias Doge continued, "Nathan Potter, one of our greatest achievements. A magical Titan that we tamed and manipulated to unknowingly serve our purposes through Hermione Granger. We, of course, had to dose him heavily after the mess with the Tri Wizard Tournament since Dumbledore was very vigilant when the boy was concerned. But from then, he was our perfect pawn, unknowingly following our lead, our ambitions for magical Britain, and look at what we achieved, a true Golden Age for our proud nation. It barely took a little persuasion, using his family as leverage, to get him to submit. He was so loyal that he betrayed his own sister, his own blood by dosing her at our orders when she went to see him."

Greengrass chuckled, "What a fitting ending this is. Young Nathan gave us the Potter family on a silver platter, his sister who has her knowledge of your magics, as well as you. With your sister under our care, we expect you to take our advice into consideration, to keep the law and order in magical Britain, of course. Your sister will remain with us, of course. The chackles she is wearing bind her to our will completely, and they cannot be removed without her death."

Draco Malfoy snorted, "What a joke. The two the most powerful witches in our generation brought down with a simple potion. No matter how powerful anyone is, they can be dealt with if one is cunning enough."

I have to say, that this was a pretty risky but simple and effective plan from their parts. If I wasn't, well, me, it might have worked. I took a good look at the runes manacles that bound my sister, and almost snorted in derision. They were made of pure goblin silver, and the runes were slavery ones used in ancient Rome. They weren't anything truly impressive, at least for me, but they were obviously very old. With the wars between the Goblins and Wizards in the last millennia, the probability of a goblin willingly accepting a contract are extremely low. That thing must have cost a fortune to make and maintain. It was so inefficient, even. Even worse, they didn't know who they were.

It's true that the chains bound the wearer, but it wasn't really true. They could not bind the minds, and hence only controlled the wearer's body. It's why it was mostly used on Muggles back then. Skilled enough wizards were capable of basic spells without moving their bodies, which mean that they had a good chance of escaping and probably killing their captors. Transfiguring the chains wouldn't trigger the death curse that were tied to the integrity of the chains. Breaking the chains would activate it but transfiguring them into rubber or plastic wouldn't.

My guess was that the Court tried to bind Rose properly with a ritual, but my protections prevented her soul or mind to be tampered with. I had done so when I noticed that they were planning to bind me to their service. So, unable to break my protections, they used the chains, an artifact that they didn't understand properly.

Honestly, I didn't know if Rose could do any magic without moving her body, but from her frightened look, she didn't understand how the chains worked. I stifled a sigh; I need to take over for her education even further. Truthfully, I never wanted to teach anyone my brand of magic. It just wasn't a good idea. I preferred to teach them the basics and a few elementary spells and get them to figure the rest out by themselves, something that Rose probably hadn't done properly, especially since she obviously has gaps in her education.

Well, I guess Thor will have a classmate, at the very least.

I looked at the expectant members of the Court before me, and speak for the first time, "Are you done?"

My voice wasn't loud, barely more than a whisper for that matter, and yet the members of the court shivered, their previously smug expressions gone, leaving only an unsettled look.

I nearly burst into laughter at their reactions and continued, "Didn't you wonder why I asked you if you fear Death when I came in? You were all so frightened, so scared of little old me. You're so ready to kill people, to enslave them, doing horrible things to them, and yet you're so terrified of the same to you. What a hypocrisy, this is. But this is not the time for me to rant about your practices. I know that sometimes, there are decisions that have no good outcome, that you have to sacrifice someone, make them suffer, for many others to prosper. And yet, that's not what you do, is it? You call this the Golden Age of Britain, I call it, the age of lies and deceit. The Court of Shadows should have been a force for good, to stabilize the magical world as a whole, yet all I see is a Court of Scavengers, who waited out the Deaths of Dumbledore and Voldemort, attempting to gain more power at any cost. I let you be, because you're so small, so insignificant for someone like me, who deals with things and beings you cannot even fathom. And yet you're doing your best to get my attentions. I was simply going to warn you because I couldn't be bothered to deal with you. I asked you if you feared Death because you were courting it."

As I spoke, I kept slowly releasing a fraction of my power. It wasn't enough for them to pass out from the pressure, but they are starting to get uncomfortable. Some of them were even gasping to breathe properly.

I continued my little speech, "You're courting Death because that's who I am, what I am. I'm not some regular witch with delusions of power, I am power, and I was running out of patient. I warned you when I first came in. I told you not to make me go too far. You wanted me to take you seriously, well, congratulation, I am. And now, you'll suffer the consequences."

They were all unable to breathe properly because of the pressure that I was exuding, "What about your sister," Malfoy gasped out.

I snorted, "What sister?"

Suddenly, in front of their eyes, my sister's form suddenly turned into an entire murder of crows who flew around the room and burst into shadows.

Elphias Doge yelled out while panting, his eyes wide, "How is that possible?"

I chuckled, "Darling, you have no idea what's possible," I never get tired of saying that line, "with my sister gone, and with it any illusion of control you thought you had, there's only one question left on my mind. What should I do with all of you?"