Chapter 252: Plans Upon Plans

Chapter 252: Plans Upon Plans

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

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7th 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. Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

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.

"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.