Growing Strong

Chapter 378: Growing Strong

2 July 2018, Headmaster's office, Hogwarts

(Rose Potter POV)

Rose Potter sat down at her office with a sigh. With the school year finally over, she could take a small breather from the horde of children who just wouldn't leave her alone. She loved to teach, immensely so, but honestly, she had no idea that taking the job of Headmistress came with so much paperwork. No wonder McGonagall jumped at the chance to retire as fast as possible.

The headmaster's office was a haven of tranquillity amidst the bustling castle. The enchanted windows offered a panoramic view of the sprawling grounds, where students now enjoyed their well-deserved summer break. Rose couldn't help but reflect on her journey so far.

The world had really done its best to smother her, but she has risen above it all. She fought for every single moment in her life, and she deserved her place amongst the prestigious line of Hogwarts headmasters.

She was the last Potter, and it seemed like the line would end with her. She wasn't as bothered by it as she should be. The Wizengamot kept hounding her about upholding her duty, preserving her prestigious legacy, and so on. She didn't care. No one hounded her anymore, and they couldn't really make her do anything she didn't want to do.

Leaning back in her chair, she glanced at a picture of her family. Well, her family outside of Jasmine that is. The smiles on their faces, they were so carefree, it reminded her of more peaceful times, before the dark decade that marked the entire wizarding world. Rose always thought she had something to prove. She was the daughter of two war heroes, the sister of the Boy Who Lived, the sister of Jasmine, whatever the hell she was. It was all so meaningless, in the end. Their deaths were meaningless.

Jasmine died to reveal Dumbledore's manipulations, which was useless. Nathan died after betraying her to the Court of Shadows. Her parents perished because of the Court massacre. It wasn't fair, and for a while Rose barely left her parents' house because of her grief. But after Neville Longbottom of all people gave her a talking to, she decided to learn to live once more.

Now, as the sun began its slow descent, casting a warm and golden hue across the office, Rose realized that the scars of her past had shaped her into the person she became. Even if she could do without the constant nagging from anyone around her.

Was that why Dumbledore snapped and decided to take over? After a decade, pretty much advising the leaders of the magical world, to turn this into an actual stable society, she was getting tired of being consulted for every small issue. The bane of being the strongest witch in the world was heavy indeed, but she owed it all to Jasmine, and the painting that she had left for her. It stopped working years ago, but it did help her grow into the fearsome witch the world knew her as.

"If only you were here, Jasmine…" she muttered.

"She was always here, with you," a voice responded.

The headmistress stiffened and turned. It took a little while to recognize the woman in front of her, but her dark red hair, and signature red clothes were ones that she couldn't mistake for anything, "Wanda Maximoff, as I live and breathe. I didn't think that you'd have the time for little old me for a while. How long has it been?"

"A little over five years, I think," her old friend responded.

"Ah, I remember. You and Jean came to see me after my parents died," Rose decided not to think about that dark time again, "So, what brings the savior of the world to my little neck of the woods?"

And wasn't that the truth? Magical or Muggle, everyone knew who Wanda Maximoff was. The defender of humanity, who organized and fought a war to defend the world from an alien warlord that terrified the entire galaxy.

It had shaken the world. Thanos was real and he was terrifying, but the power displayed by the mutants scared the magical world. Wizards and Witches saw that muggles had powers of their own. The Pureblood movement was all but dead, and signs were pointing towards a future integration with the muggle world. People were still looking at how it would go with mutants, but with the recent success and meteoritical rise of people with superpowers, it just seemed like a forgone conclusion. As long as they're safe and won't be taken advantage of, mages were mostly willing to join the rest of the world as well.

Wanda looked uncomfortable for a moment, "I'm sorry for not coming sooner. I forgot how long it's been."

"We've all been busy, me with fixing the wizarding world, and you trying to stop the world from imploding, especially with the mutants joining the rest of humanity. So, why the change of pattern? Are you suddenly free?"

"Not really, it's about your sister."

And just like that, the jovial atmosphere was gone, "What about my sister? I wasn't aware that you knew about her."

With a sigh, Wanda sat down in front of her, "It's a long story. There's a lot about Jasmine that you don't know about."

"I'd like to think that I know everything that I need to know about my sister. You're being awfully rude and disrespectful here, Wanda."

"Alright, tell me about her, then."

The witch's frown turned into a wistful smile, and the words just came out of her automatically, "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."

"You know, that was the exact response you gave me five years ago, word for word. Don't you think that's odd?"

Yes, it was odd. She didn't even need to think before putting her sister into words, "What's going on, Wanda?"

"I don't want to poke at old scars, but Jasmine didn't die when you were fourteen. You got to spend more time with her, but then something happened. There was some wild magic and you ended up forgetting her."

"Don't be ridiculous. I didn't forget my own sister."

Wanda gave her a sad look, "Then why don't you tell me about your sister?"

"She was amazing, a prodigy like no other. I only met her for a year, but she accepted me even after our parents… Stop that!"

"I'm not doing anything, you are."

Rose perked up slightly, "Assuming that you're telling the truth, and I still don't believe you, by the way, then is Jasmine still alive?"

"No," Wanda responded with a wince, "She died during Thanos' invasion. The attack was multi-pronged. She handled the bigger threat. She won, but didn't make it."

"Oh!" well that's her hopes dashed out, "What could possibly kill Jasmine? If she's anything like I remember, she wouldn't go out without a fight."

"Something very old, very powerful, and very dangerous. She sacrificed herself to save everyone, or at least, we're assuming she did."

"What do you mean, you're assuming? Either she's dead or she's not. There's no middle ground, Wanda."

The Scarlet Witch shook her head, "The fact that we're all still alive, means that she won the fight. But we haven't seen any trace of her since then. Jean said that she last saw her jump and sort of disappear with her opponent."

"You're being irritatingly vague, Wanda."

"Look, Jasmine asked that you wouldn't be involved in this. I'm just respecting her wishes, even now that she's gone. It's the least that I could do. She wasn't really well the last few years before she died. She was so consumed by it all, that she just stopped caring about everything else. I think that she just wanted to not think about what happened to you. Ever since the incident, she was different."

Rose frowned, "And that means that I'm not allowed to know anything about how my sister died?"

"It's not about you being allowed to do anything. She just thought that if you think that she's dead, there's no use rubbing salt into the wound if she's actually dead. She would be very proud of you, you know. You have accomplished so many amazing things."

"Then why are you here? You didn't come here just to tell me that my sister died later than I thought she did, I just don't remember it."

"I didn't come here to hurt you, or make you remember things that you would rather forget. No, I'm here because your sister planned for me to be here."

"I don't understand," Rose answered while furrowing her eyebrows, "You said that she's dead."

"Jasmine was a long-term planner. As in plans that spanned decades to come to fruition. Even if she's not with us anymore, it doesn't mean that her ambitions, that her goals are gone. Your sister planned for decades to make sure that the magical world would rejoin the muggle one. Everything you hear about mutant inclusion and protection for powered youths, it's all part of her plan. She even accelerated the inclusion of mutant population to force the issue. The idea was to make sure that each family would have a mutant amongst them, we only needed to safeguard the population amongst them. Project Genosha was one of the main pillars to make that happen. Now that we succeeded, the world would have to include them peacefully. No one would risk that their children be discriminated against in the future, so they have to be fair. She forced the world into a corner, and she's not even here. And when the mutant population is integrated, the magical world could follow as a new 'brand' of mutants."

Rose just sat there, flabbergasted, at the global scheme that her sister had pulled, even when she wasn't even alive. Seriously, this was so ridiculous, but it could work. There was only one thing bugging her, "You said that they only accepted mutants because their children might be ones as well. Wizards aren't the same."

"You'll need to rely on muggle parents to do it. To tell them that anyone could be born a wizard. Plus, compared to most mutants, wizards aren't all that powerful. More flexible, yes, but not always powerful. You play that angle, and it should endear you to the masses. But that's years away, maybe even decades. What I need from you is to prepare your side of the world to join the rest. You've already included basic classes in Hogwarts, like Math, the sciences, and English. You have overhauled the Muggle studies curriculum and made it mandatory, but you can do more. You could add preschools, visitations to muggle locations, things like that, to ease the relation between the two groups. We're already halfway there."

It was possible, and Rose had planned for this eventuality, even if she didn't expect Wanda to plan the same. But changing so much at once would be very difficult, maybe even impossible.

"I don't know," Rose stated, "This all sounds good on paper. I can probably do it in Britain, maybe even influence things in Europe a bit, but my reputation can only do so much. On a Global scale, it's just beyond me."

Wanda looked delighted at her words, "Maybe it used to be, but not anymore, which brings me to the other reason I'm here. Your inheritance."

"What inheritance?"

"You didn't really think that your sister would leave you out to dry," she took out a golden key from her pocket.

"A key, she left me a key?" Rose asked incredulously.

"You should know by now that nothing is ever that simple when it comes to Jasmine."

She put the key into her office's door and opened it, "This is the legacy that your sister left you, Rose. This is Avalon."

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This is it, the last chapter. The story is officially finished, but I might add an extra epilogue chapter, about what happens in the far future. I have enjoyed this journey and I am proud to say that I finished it (I really don't like leaving things without a proper ending). I have learned a lot from your feedback over the years, and I like to think that I grew as a writer as well.

I just wanted to say thank you for your support in this amazing journey.

I would also like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help for most of the story.

And as usual, if you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr