Chapter 63: Goodbyes

29th June 1995, Hogwarts

(Rose POV)

Rose kept tearing up and just handed the parchment back to the goblin that eyed her curiously. She stayed quiet on their way back home. She could tell that her parents had gotten better somehow. The visit to the bank had given them some sort of closure. Jasmine always knew what to say to make people feel better. Her mother spoke for the first time in days, “I have to go to Hogwarts to pick some stuff up.”

Rose jumped at the chance, “Can I come?” She wanted to know what her sister left her there. Her mother looked at her with surprise on her face. “Are you sure you’re up to it?” she asked.

“Yes, I think I am.”

Rose Potter was coming to Hogwarts. She had one last mystery to unravel. She was excited, today, she was going to have all her questions answered. She was going to finally know, who was Jasmine Evanshade?

It was an hour later that Rose’s mother called her to get to Hogwarts. Since Rose came with her, they were not apparating, so they took the floo to the three broomsticks in Hogsmeade and took the Thestral carriages to get to the school. It was very hot, especially for a night in Scotland. The wind felt like it was coming from inside an oven, but Rose didn’t care; she was feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension. She didn’t dare to hope that Jasmine would be there to greet her one last time. Her letter had implied that they won’t see each other for a long time. But all this time, there was this doubt. She hated it but Rose was scared that it was all a dream or a trick. That Jasmine really was dead.

As they were arriving to the castle, Rose noticed how quiet it was. There were no students outside, the black lake was the most peaceful she had ever seen it. There was not a single ripple in the entire lake, it was as if someone had replaced the lake with a giant mirror.

The castle itself seemed to be in mourning somehow. When they entered the castle, there were no students running around, no loud noises, no games of explosive snap. People kept whispering when she walked in the corridor next to her mother, but she ignored them; she didn’t care about them anymore. It was something Jasmine taught her; the words of strangers are irrelevant, only the words of the people you care about matters in the end.

Rose entered the great hall, to find it almost full of students. Ah, she forgot that this was the leaving feast. She wanted to avoid as much people as she could and get to the room of requirements. The leaving feast is a celebration, where the winner of the Inter-House Championship would be announced. But there was nothing to celebrate now and it showed.

Rose noticed that the usual decorations were missing. The Great Hall was normally decorated with the winning House’s colors for the Leaving Feast. Tonight, however, there were black drapes on the wall behind the teachers’ table. Rose knew instantly that they were there as a mark of respect to Jasmine. Not that she spoke a single word to any of the people in the great hall, right now.

Rose noticed for the first time how many staff members were missing compared to the beginning of the year. Snape and Dumbledore weren’t there obviously, but Hagrid seemed to have taken Dumbledore’s betrayal very badly and hasn’t been seen after the third task. Alastor Moody was still missing, apparently during the investigation, an Auror almost lost a hand trying to go through his belongings, so they left everything in the evidence locker at the DMLE offices in the ministry. No one wanted to take a chance breaking a suitcase warded to high hell.

Karkaroff was missing as well, not that she was surprised, with the rest of the Death Eaters dying, there was no surprise that he didn’t make it. It was funny in a morbid way, only one Headmaster had kept their job and that was Madame Maxime.

Rose had barely sat down at the Hufflepuff table before someone tapped her shoulders, it was Susan Bones. The girl had been her friend until she left her when Nathan was revealed as a parselmouth. It was quite a revelation really. How easy people turn against you for no reason. She was devastated when that happened, but she didn’t care anymore.

Susan spoke, “I’m sorry for your loss. I knew that you two were close. She was a true hero, you know?”

“Yes, she was.” Rose answered effectively ending the conversation. This was proof that they didn’t know Jasmine. Her sister wasn’t a hero, she was a survivor, she wouldn’t fight in a straight fight even if she knew she would win, she liked to have people do it to themselves for her. One only needs to look at Dumbledore to see that. Rose could tell that Susan wanted to ask questions, the inconsiderate bitch. She would do anything for gossip. But Rose turned her back at her, effectively cutting her off.

It was a few moments later that McGonagall stood up at the staff table and the conversations in the entire hall ceased immediately. “This is the end of a year. There is much that had happened this year. It was a year filled with wonder and joy. It’s a true tragedy that it ended with betrayal and death. First things first, to honor one of the bravest students that had ever graced these halls, I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, Jasmine Evanshade.”

And they did, every single person in the great hall, from every single school, stood up and raised their goblets and echoed, in one loud, low, rumbling voice, “Jasmine Evanshade.” Rose noticed that a great number of people were trying to discreetly to look at her and failing to do so.

The headmistress continued, “Jasmine might not have been a student in Hogwarts, but she exhibited every quality of every house. She fought bravely against overwhelming odds, she displayed an intelligence not seen for many years, she was loyal to who she considered family and her cunning was enough to beat a vastly superior opponent and warned the entire world of his treachery. The Triwizard Tournament’s aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened such ties are more important than ever before. It’s the least we could do to honor Jasmine’s sacrifice.”

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Rose was seething, the headmistress had used Jasmine’s death as political move. She understood it but it was extremely unethical for her to do so. Even Rose’s mother looked outraged at the words spoken and started to walk towards McGonagall. Rose took advantage of this to use the light invisibility spell Jasmine taught her and to sneak towards the seventh floor, to the room of Requirements.

When she arrived in front of the familiar tapestry, she realized that she didn’t know what to ask the room but before she could ponder on what to ask, a door materialized in front of her. It was the first time the room opened without her asking for anything. She slowly moved towards the door and opened it and gasped. Everything was white, the floor and sky. She couldn’t see any walls it was as if she was in an infinite space.

The door disappeared when it closed, and Rose panicked at the thought of being trapped here. But before she could turn around, a voice spoke, “Hello, Rose Potter.”

Rose turned around to see a woman. She was tall, had pale skin, dark eyes, and long black hair. What was unusual about her was the fact that she was glowing with a white light. There was something ethereal about her, something otherworldly. Rose instinctively knew that the woman wasn’t human.

“Who are you?” Rose asked.

“I am Hogwarts, dear child. I remember when you first came into my castle. You such a shy little thing…”

“How?”

Hogwarts responded, “I was created as a warding system, but mother wanted something better to protect the children. Wizards and witches were quite persecuted by the muggles, you know. And Power-hungry wizards and witches could do horrible things with an easy access to magical children. It was a very different world back then. Mother wanted a ward that learns, that makes decisions. It took me a while to understand and to learn and with so much ambient magic I became self-aware.”

“So, you’re alive?” Rose questioned.

“Oh yes, very alive.” She answered

“Then why didn’t you help us?” Rose exclaimed.

“Albus Dumbledore took control over the wards, when he left, I got control back.”

How many lives had Dumbledore affected? He really was a horrible man.

“My sister told me to come here.” Rose was more subdued now.

“Yes, mother told me you were coming…” the sentient castle answered.

“Mother?”

“She went by many names during her long life. I knew her as Helga Hufflepuff, my mother. To you, she is Jasmine Evanshade, your sister.”

This didn’t make any sense; how was that possible? “How?”

“As far as I understand, she was involved in a temporal accident when she was younger, sending her to the past. She did not tell me everything that happened to her, but she has lived for thousands of years, taking many names in the process.”

Rose was speechless, she could not believe what she was hearing. “How did she live for so long?”

“I’m unclear on what methods she used but there are many ways to be long lived. She did say something about helping the Flamels with their stone. They’re very close friends, I guess immortal wizards and witches are quite rare, so there are few choices in companionship.”

“She’s been alone for so long? How did she not go mad?” Rose questioned with tears in her eyes.

“Your sister delt with it in different ways, she would often have companions, adopt children and so on. It helps keep her centered. The other founders were like that to her, that was before Salazar’s fall to madness. Mordred was the same too.”

“Mordred, the knight that trained my brother?”

“Yes, her. Your sister was like a mother to her.”

“Mother… My sister was Morgana?” She exclaimed.

“The legends have mistaken her for another power hungry witch that stole her name. History is one of the most inconsistent subjects in the magical world. Rose, my mother has been a constant figure in history, sometimes as a witness and sometimes as its subject. I don’t think there exists any other wizard or witch that has as much magical knowledge as she does.”

“Oh Merlin. I was taught by Morgana.” No wonder she always sounded wise and knowledgeable about magic. She taught her ancient magic, never seen by anyone. Oh, Merlin she spent months complaining to her about her parents, she even asked her for romantic advice. No wonder she didn’t want anything to do with her parents, she was older that her entire family line, she didn’t need parents.

“Don’t feel intimidated, she’s still your sister. Oh yeah, and try not the swear by Merlin, it annoys her. Apparently, he was an entitled brat. She did not seem fond of him.”

Her sister called Merlin a brat. Of course, she did. Rose was pretty much hysterical now.

After all these answers she had one last question. “Why? Why did Jasmine come to Hogwarts? Why spend so much time with me? Why teach me?”

“It started as a curiosity, really. Mother was summoned with blood from before she was sent to the past, she was not bound by magic or anything, but she was curious about what was happening here. She had planned on acting discreetly, under the radar so to speak but she wanted to visit the castle without sneaking around. Mother only interfere when whatever happens would lead to a lot of deaths otherwise. Had she not done involved herself, Voldemort would have returned, and war would have spilled over the entirety of Europe. Voldemort would have died at your brother’s hand in a few years, but he would have died from his injuries. Albus Dumbledore would have united the entire magical world, kidnapping Muggleborns and erasing their parent’s memories of them. But the damage would have been done, the population of wizards would be more than halved and wizards would start dying out. Most magical creatures would have been extinct or hunted down. Your sister stopped that from happening by removing Dumbledore, Voldemort, and their supporters from the board. She gave the magical world a chance at a new beginning. Things might be a little chaotic now, but people, for the first time started to think for themselves. When the situation stabilizes, the magical world will progress like never before.”

“But why did she spend time with me?”

“It’s not a deep answer, dear. She liked you, loved you even. Not everything has to be for a purpose, sometimes you could just enjoy yourself. Even mother understood that.”

“Then why did she leave me?” Rose shouted.

“She knew that Dumbledore would hunt her down and kill her. She could either kill him and be hunted either as a murderer or become his replacement. Or she could have let him win and fake her death. Her ‘death’ would serve as a trick to show the world his true colors. Plus, Mother wanted you to grow and for that you must not rely completely on her. With the coming crisis, she’s very busy planning the survival of the planets and to make sure reality doesn’t collapse.” Hogwarts calmly answered with a serene smile on her face.

“I don’t know how to move on without her.” Rose said with a subdued tone.

Hogwarts chuckled, “Did you really think that your sister left you empty handed?”

Hogwarts moved her hands, and something appeared out of thin air. It was a portrait, a magical portrait of her sister to be exact.

Rose almost burst into tears when Jasmine spoke, “Hello Rose. Long time no see, huh.”

For the first time ever since the third task, Rose had a true smile on her face.